Primed Prospect! Texas Rangers Top Prospect Wyatt Langford Earns Opening Day Roster Spot

Wyatt Langford, the club’s top prospect and the No. 4 overall pick in the MLB Draft last July, has secured a spot on the Opening Day roster.

Mar 18, 2024; Surprise, Arizona, USA; Texas Rangers outfielder Wyatt Langford celebrates with / Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

SURPRISE, Ariz. — The worst-kept secret of Texas Rangers spring training is no more.

Wyatt Langford, the club’s top prospect and the No. 4 overall pick in the MLB Draft last July, has secured a spot on the Opening Day roster, manager Bruce Bochy announced Friday morning.

Langford, who turned 22 in November, has been one of the league’s brightest prospects since joining the Rangers from the University of Florida.

The Rangers invited him to Major League camp based on how quickly he performed in two months of professional baseball last summer. General manager Chris Young and manager Bruce Bochy have said for months that Langford had a legitimate chance to earn a roster spot.

All Langford had to do was prove it. And, boy, did he prove it.

He leads all big leaguers this spring with a 1.242 OPS and a .796 slugging percentage, third on-base percentage while batting .388.

“It's awesome,” Langford said. “It's really cool to see and to be a part of an organization that was willing to do that and willing to take that chance on me and allowed me to be able to jump to this level so fast.”

Bochy, who has been as impressed with Langford’s demeanor as with his bat, enjoyed sharing the news with his young slugger.

“That's great news,” Bochy said after delivering it. “It's one of the best times for managers when you are able to tell somebody like Wyatt. I don't know if there was any doubt in his mind, but I'm sure there was. He's earned it.”

Bochy has enjoyed kidding with reporters for the past month when asked questions about Langford’s status, even as the young slugger started making it obvious he should be on the Opening Day roster.

“Look at the spring he's had,” Bochy said. “I know we’ve actually joked about him not being [on the team] at times, but he definitely deserves to be here.”

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