2025 Fantasy Baseball: Wyatt Langford Profile, Preview, Predictions
In his rookie season, Langford failed to produce stats supporting his ADP. In mid-February, he moved up about a round in fantasy drafts in the National Fantasy Baseball Championship, highlighting the excitement about his bat in 2025.
Play No. 43 of 2024: Wyatt Langford takes a home run away! 🤯 pic.twitter.com/F5z7d8x6dn
— MLB (@MLB) December 4, 2024
OF – Wyatt Landford, TEX (ADP – 50.0)
After two dynamic seasons (.364 with 156 runs, 47 home runs, 120 RBIs, and 16 stolen bases over 492 at-bats) at the University of Florida, the Rangers selected Langford with the fourth overall selection in the 2023 MLB June Amateur Draft.
Over the back half of the 2023 baseball season, his bat pushed through four minor league levels, with success at every stop. Langford hit .360 over 161 at-bats for the year with 36 runs, 10 home runs, 30 RBIs, and 12 steals. He finished with an elite walk rate (18.0) with a favorable strikeout rate (17.0). Langford had more walks (128) between college and the pros than strikeouts (123).
The Rangers had Langford in their opening-day lineup in 2024. He looked overmatched over his first 116 at-bats (.224/13/1/11/1) before landing on the injured list for three weeks with a hamstring issue. His bat came around in June (.309/11/3/22/6 over 97 at-bats), but Langford only had nine home runs over his first 399 at-bats. A hot three games (5-for-13 with five runs, two home runs, and eight RBIs) in early September vs. the Yankees set the stage for a good end to the season (.300/25/8/20/7 over 100 at-bats).
His strikeout rate (20.7) and walk rate (9.2) beat the league average. Langford has success with runners on base (RBI rate – 17). He had a balanced swing path, but his HR/FB rate (9.9) was well below his limited minor league resume (21.3%). Langford ranked 93rd in exit velocity (89.6) and 78th in hard-hit rate (43.4). His launch angle (16.6) bodes well for more power.
With minimal experience in the minors, his contact batting average (.328) finished below his college (.442) and minor league (.457) careers. Langford also fell well short of expectations with his average hit rate (1.643 – 1.879 in the minors and 2.056 in college).
Fantasy Outlook: His 2024 stats projected over 550 at-bats came to 82 runs, 18 home runs, 82 RBIs, and 21 stolen bases. He finished the season ranked 62nd in FPGscore (0.43) while outperforming his rookie expectations in speed. Landford is a bet-on-the-come player, but one must believe in his ceiling, not his shortfalls in some rookie metrics. I expect him to bat third for the Rangers once his bat heats up, pointing to higher outputs in counting stats. I see a .300/100/30/100/20 player, making Langford a player to fight for in drafts in 2025.
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With 20+ years of experience in the high-stakes fantasy market, I aim to research and compete at the highest level in baseball and football each season. I've contributed as a writer/analyst for Sports Draft Daily, ScoutPro, Scout Fantasy, Fulltime Fantasy, FFToolbox, and Sports Illustrated Fantasy. I'm honored to be in the National Fantasy Baseball Championship Hall of Fame. My drafting philosophy is risk-averse yet open to betting on potential game-changers. I approach player selection with a neutral perspective, acknowledging that fantasy sports are inherently unpredictable due to injuries, performance dips, and managerial decisions. My work focuses on these main areas: - Season-long fantasy baseball and football - BestBall Baseball and Football Events - Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS): DraftKings, FanDuel, and Underdog - Long Shot Player Prop Parlays for NFL I participate in various leagues and contests, including NFBC, NFFC, RTSports, FFPC, DraftKings, Underdog Fantasy, FanDuel, and FFWC, with the goal of leveraging my extensive experience and research for success in each game format. A fantasy follower can expect in-depth profiles of NFL and MLB players, along with season-long and weekly projections for each fantasy football season. In addition, I have many strategy articles to help develop fantasy players' learning curves.