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Texas Rangers Offseason 2023-2024

ztejas

By ztejas
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Angry Gorilla
Angry Gorilla

I have the actual cleats he was wearing in that pic

stc
stc

My cousin sent me these...not sure if this was 88 or 89. I remember being so excited about standing on the field...took home a handful of the crushed brick from the warning track. Also remember thinki

Don Johnson
Don Johnson

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shadow_operative2.0

shadow_operative2.0 16,065

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1 hour ago, Pato del Muerto said:

Haven’t heard much of anything about langford’s defensive abilities in the OF.  Have they said if they envision him as an outfielder when there’s a spot available?

He’ll play LF 2-3 times a week. Evan will play all 3 spots, Adolis will DH some. Jank will basically just PR, maybe start in the OF twice a month. 

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Jameslaw121

Jameslaw121 4,455

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5 hours ago, shadow_operative2.0 said:

He’ll play LF 2-3 times a week. Evan will play all 3 spots, Adolis will DH some. Jank will basically just PR, maybe start in the OF twice a month. 

Are you thinking Evan, Wyatt, Leodys and adolis kinda rotate in and out with DH to give them time off? Also, I'm not sure if langford is ready to for the outfield just yet.

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Post Oak

Post Oak 20,349

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Rosenthal on Langford

Spoiler

: Why the Rangers can’t stop raving about rookie Wyatt Langford
SURPRISE, ARIZONA - FEBRUARY 28, 2024: Wyatt Langford #82 of the Texas Rangers bats during the first inning of a spring training game against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Surprise Stadium on February 28, 2024 in Surprise, Arizona. (Photo by David Durochik/Diamond Images via Getty Images)
By Ken Rosenthal
12m ago
SURPRISE, AZ. — We start with two stories from last season, when Wyatt Langford was still a junior at the University of Florida.
The first began with Langford fouling a ball off his groin last March 10. He didn’t want to come out of the game, Texas Rangers scouting director Kip Fagg recalls, but ended up going to the hospital and getting diagnosed with a ruptured testicle. One report said he would miss a month. Langford, an outfielder, returned for a doubleheader at Ole Miss in just over two weeks.
Fagg, who was in attendance, remembers.
“I could tell he was really hurting — he DHed,” Fagg said. “But he gutted it out when most guys would have tapped out.”
The second story is from the SEC Tournament in May. Rangers general manager Chris Young, a former major-league pitcher, and special assistant Nick Hundley, a former catcher, grew enamored with Langford … on a play in which he popped up to second base.
“He was standing on second before the ball was caught,” Young said. “It showed how hard he played. We thought, ‘That’s our brand of baseball.’”
The Rangers took Langford with the fourth overall pick. Eight months later, he will be in their Opening Day lineup, likely batting somewhere in the middle of their order as the DH. This isn’t a rebuilding team, mind you. These are the defending World Series champions.Los Angeles Angels first baseman Nolan Schanuel, the 11th overall pick in 2023, beat Langford to the majors, making his major-league debut last Aug. 18 after just 97 minor-league plate appearances. Schanuel acquitted himself well, producing a .402 on-base percentage. But he is not the offensive wrecking ball Langford, 22, threatens to be.
Consider Langford to this point:
At Florida: 1.217 OPS (610 plate appearances)
In the minors: 1.157 OPS (200 PAs)
At spring training: 1.161 OPS (63 PAs)
In one day at Rangers camp over the weekend, I heard people with the team compare Langford to Mookie Betts (for the way he recognizes pitches); Ryan Zimmerman (for the maturity he has shown while rapidly ascending to the majors); and Mike Trout (for the physical resemblance; Langford is listed at 6-foot-1, 225 pounds, Trout 6-2, 235. Both bat right-handed).
No one said Langford would be as successful as those players. Everyone recognized he will struggle like all rookies struggle, and all veterans, for that matter. But the professional manner in which Langford handles himself, both in the batter’s box and the clubhouse, leaves players and club officials rather uninhibited in their optimism.
To think, the Rangers boast not just one of these guys, but two. Remember Evan Carter? Second-round pick out of Elizabethton (Tenn.) H.S. in 2020. Major-league debut last Sept. 8. Postseason stalwart during the Rangers’ title run, batting .300 with a .917 OPS.
Any advice for Langford, Evan?
“I don’t know what to tell him,” said Carter, who at 21 is a year younger than Langford. “I’ve never had an Opening Day before. I’ve never played a full season in the majors. I don’t know what to think.”
Third baseman Josh Jung, who is all of 26, summed it up for him.
“We got a 21-year-old and a 22-year-old, and they make our lineup better,” Jung said. “That’s crazy.”
Langford impressed club officials after the draft by tearing through four levels of the minors, then displaying advanced hitting ability while serving on the Rangers’ taxi squad during the postseason. Manager Bruce Bochy said the team’s expectation from the start of camp was that Langford would make the club. General manager Chris Young, when asked if the Rangers had conversations about sending Langford down, responded, “We couldn’t. He never gave us the opportunity.”
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” said Young, who pitched 13 seasons in the majors and served 2 1/2 years as an executive with Major League Baseball before becoming the Rangers’ GM in Dec. 2020.
Rangers third base coach Tony Beasley, though, has experienced this kind of thing before — in 2006, Zimmerman’s first full season with the Washington Nationals. Like Langford, Zimmerman was drafted fourth overall, out of the University of Virginia. He played in only 67 games in the minors before making his debut in Sept. 2005.
Beasley, the Nationals’ third-base coach the following season, recalled Zimmerman’s calm demeanor and intense focus. Six years later, as the Nats’ Triple-A manager, Beasley dealt with a younger phenom, breaking the news to Bryce Harper that he would be heading to the majors at 19. “You see certain players with unique qualities that will propel them a little faster,” Beasley said. “(Langford) seems to have those qualities.”
Donnie Ecker, the Rangers’ bench coach and offensive coordinator, said Langford and Carter appear almost fully formed, standing out in part because they act older than their respective ages. Both players are married — Langford to a former t-ball teammate from his hometown of Trenton, Fla. Hallie Langford, a redshirt junior on the softball team at Mercer University, is an outfielder, but unlike Wyatt bats left-handed. A broken ankle will keep her out this season, Wyatt said, so she will be a redshirt junior again next year.
“It speaks to how we’re identifying the human capital side of this,” Ecker said. “These guys have foundational beliefs that allow them to be grounded, on top of having a really high level of work ethic and talent.”
Ah, the talent. Langford appears to be a complete offensive player, demonstrating a good feel for the strike zone, the ability to drive the ball to all parts of the field and top-caliber speed. The Athletic’s Keith Law, who rated Langford his No. 6 prospect (Carter was No. 9), described him as a “70” runner — “70” on the 20-to-80 scouting scale, is considered “plus-plus,” among the best tools in the game.
Langford’s defense is more of a question.
“He’s fast enough for center but played left in Florida, in part because they had a plus defender in center but more because Langford has yet to show even solid instincts in the outfield,” Law wrote. “That said, if what he did in a modest sample in pro ball is any indication, he could play sixth base or top field or anywhere else and still be an impact player, because he looks like he is really going to hit and put 25-30 balls in the seats, too.”
Or, as Rangers first baseman Nathaniel Lowe put it, “I don’t really care what he does on defense as long as he’s not a liability. He’s going to help us offensively. That’s pretty much a guarantee.”
Rangers hitting coach Tim Hyers said Langford is unusually composed in the box, in part because he sees the game in an advanced way. His mechanics are efficient, his swing compact, enabling him to transfer force into the ball. And there’s more.
Hyers was Betts’ hitting coach with the Boston Red Sox in 2018, the outfielder’s MVP season, and also in 2019. Betts’ pitch-recognition skills, Hyers said, are probably the best he has seen. And Langford, in Hyers’ estimation, “is close to that class.”
“That really helps him out with the consistency he has had in his pro career. And the numbers show it,” Hyers said. “He doesn’t chase a lot. He gets a real good swing off on pitches in the zone. There are some flashes of slowing the game down and seeing the baseball in a real unique, high-level class.”
Now comes the true test. Spring training is nearly over. Langford has nothing more to prove, except at the highest level. All that is left for him is to go play.
“There’s definitely some excitement,” he said.
He spoke for himself. He could have been speaking for his entire organization, and maybe his entire sport.
(Top photo of Wyatt Langford: David Durochik / Diamond Images via Getty Images)
 

 

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gsoda3

gsoda3 3,311

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Montgomery got $25 million for this year and a vested option for (I think) $25 million next year with the DBacks.
Feel like... We could have done that.
I'm pretty disappointed we didn't offer him that.
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gofuckyourself

gofuckyourself 8,702

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12 hours ago, gsoda3 said:
12 hours ago, fellside said:
Montgomery got $25 million for this year and a vested option for (I think) $25 million next year with the DBacks.
Feel like... We could have done that.

I'm pretty disappointed we didn't offer him that.

Loved watching Monty pitch but hey, he'll opt out and come back to the back-to-back champions in '25.

We got a quantity instead and hope those have some quality to off-set the Monty loss.

And we have something it appears in coaches and personnel who can bring out good to great -- if not white-knuckle at times -- performances from our pitchers when it matters most.

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