ANAHEIM, Calif. ― And now for something different on the final day of this season of the Rangers’ Great Offensive Retreat.
The story of somebody surging.
More significantly, the surger in question is rookie Wyatt Langford, who has excelled in the late stages of the season, a time when rookies are gasping for air and dragging their bat. Instead, Langford went into Saturday’s game at Los Angeles with quite possibly the best September ever by a Rangers rookie. Then he added yet another homer in a 7-3 loss.
Hey, it might even be the best September in the AL this year among mortals. Only Aaron Judge, who has achieved deity status, went into Saturday with a better OPS (1.078) in the month than Langford (1.010) among players with at least 100 plate appearances. The rest of Langford’s slash line for the month: .308/.394/.615.
Langford hit a two-run homer on Friday to get the Rangers’ scoring started in a 5-2 win. He has four homers in his last six games. He has eight in September and 20 RBIs. Among Rangers rookies, only Pete Incaviglia in 1986 had more homers in September (nine). Among Rangers rookies, only Ruben Sierra, also in 1986, had more RBIs in September (21). Neither came within 100 points of Langford’s OPS for the month.
“It’s just been fun to watch his progress,” Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said Saturday. “I love everything about his game. We all love it. It’s been cool to watch him get acclimated to playing the major leagues. Everything. The way he runs down the ball in the outfield. The way he runs the bases.
“On offense, he’s gotten more reps and is more comfortable out there and more confident. You could see it grow with time, especially when he started driving the ball. Everything got better.”
Langford, 22, has seemed to figure out what most of the more experienced hitters never could: He found ways to get fastballs in the air, which allowed his tremendous strength to really play up. Early in the year, Langford’s body movements were exaggerated and it led to a swing that was more “uphill” in nature. That led to too many ground balls. The Rangers didn’t miss high fastballs, but nor did they drive them.
Langford eliminated some movement in his swing during a May stint on the IL. It toned down a leg kick and allowed him to start driving the ball more. When he went on the IL, he had a slugging percentage (.293) that was actually lower than his on-base percentage (.295). Since he’s returned: A .335 OBP and a .449 slugging percentage. He pushed his OPS for the season to .738 for the season, almost 30 points better than league average.
“I’ve said it a couple of times, that I just feel more like myself,” Langford said. “I think confidence kind of goes hand-in-hand with comfort and I definitely feel more comfortable. That’s the biggest thing. It’s good to end on a high note; it’s definitely better than ending on a bad one.”
What stands out even more about this: The length of season often catches up with rookies in the final month of the season. Rookies haven’t played a season as long as a major league season before. Langford entered Saturday with nearly 50 more plate appearances in 2024 than he did between the college baseball season at Florida in 2023 and stops at four minor league levels.
“It just tells you how strong the man is,” Bochy said. “He’s incredible in his work ethic. And he’s actually backed off some of his lifting. But he never let up on his routine. He’s worked his way from a college catcher who didn’t play his first year into a first-rounder in amazing shape. And that’s why he’s putting up the numbers he’s put up in September.”
All that said, Langford acknowledged Saturday that the most important aspect of the coming offseason might simply be to get a little rest. As much, if not more, from a mental aspect than physical.
“Last year was long, playing games from early February,” said Langford, who will spend most of the winter at his home in Florida. “But it’s definitely different when you are playing every day as opposed to last year when I had a bunch of off days in between. My body doesn’t feel too bad, but it’s really more mentally draining. It can get a little monotonous showing up every day when you are kind of out of it. But just have to show up and do your best to win every day.”
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