'It feels good': No. 2 Texas prospect Langford rips 1st spring HR
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SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Rangers No. 2 prospect Wyatt Langford has been thrown into the deep end this spring, starting multiple Cactus League games alongside big league stars like Marcus Semien, Nathaniel Lowe and Evan Carter.
After a slow first week of play, Langford hit his first home run of the spring on Friday afternoon. The homer flew approximately 430 feet onto the right-center-field berm at Scottsdale Stadium. He finished the day 2-for-3 with a walk in the Rangers’ 11-5 loss to the Giants.
“It was just a first-pitch fastball down the middle,” Langford said. “It feels good every time you add a home run.”
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Langford, MLB Pipeline’s No. 6 overall prospect, entered the day just 1-for-10 with a walk over four Cactus League games, but manager Bruce Bochy was never worried about the moment getting too big for the 22-year old.
“You wouldn't even know it. The kid is really tough,” Bochy said before the game. “He knows it’s part of the game and goes with the territory when you play this game. You're not going to get results sometimes. It's early. That's the silver lining through all this. We are just getting into March. This doesn’t faze him at all. At least he doesn’t show it.”
Langford agreed.
“It’s still Spring Training, so we're kind of just getting back playing again,” he said. “That's part of it, though. All the guys have been really kind. They're all very open to help and open to talk. So it's been a really good experience.”
Back field box scores
The Rangers played an intrasquad game Friday morning on the back fields at the Surprise Recreation Complex, which included multiple big leaguers and guys competing for spots on the Opening Day roster.
- Andrew Heaney: 3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 5 SO, 44 pitches (30 strikes)
- Grant Anderson: 1 1/3 IP, 2 H, 1 R-ER, 0 BB, 0 SO, 1 HR, 16 pitches (12 strikes)
- Danny Duffy: 2 IP, 2 H, 2 R-ER, 0 BB, 4 SO, 2 HR, 30 pitches (20 strikes)
- Jesus Tinoco: 2 IP, 1 H, 1 R-ER, 2 BB, 3 SO, 0 HR, 38 pitches (21 strikes)
- Antoine Kelly: 1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 SO, 14 pitches (8 strikes)
- José Ureña: 3 1/3 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 5 SO, 46 pitches (34 strikes)
Texas right fielder Adolis García homered off Duffy, catcher Jonah Heim homered off Anderson and first baseman Nathaniel Lowe had two doubles and two walks.