How the SEC shaped Wyatt Langford

This story was excerpted from Kennedi Landry’s Rangers Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

ARLINGTON -- The Rangers have selected college players for five straight years in the MLB Draft. For four of those years, those players have come from the SEC: Justin Foscue (Mississippi State, 2020), Jack Leiter (Vanderbilt, ‘21), Kumar Rocker (Vanderbilt, ‘22) and the most recent addition, Wyatt Langford (Florida).

Langford, who was officially introduced at Globe Life Field on Tuesday afternoon, credits a lot of his development to playing in the SEC.

“Playing in the SEC, there's nothing like it,” Langford said. “I mean, that's the hardest competition I've ever faced. … Even when we went into the postseason and stuff, I mean, playing people out of conference. It felt different to me than the SEC.”

The outfielder only played four games during his freshman year at Florida in 2021, but he was deep in the thick of the SEC the next two years. He even became one of the most dangerous hitters in a conference full of dangerous hitters.

In 2023, Langford posted a .373/.498/.784 slash line this spring with more walks (56) than strikeouts (44) as well as 21 homers among 52 extra-base hits in 64 games. He ranked among top SEC hitters in runs (2nd, 83), walks (2nd, 56), on-base percentage (2nd, .498), slugging percentage (2nd, .784), total bases (3rd, 185), hits (6th, 88) and batting average (7th, .373) en route to earning First Team All-SEC and Second Team All-American honors.

“Again, that league is, man, it's just really good baseball every single weekend,” Langford said. “There's no off weekends at all, no matter who you play against. The pitching, to the hitting lineups -- everything about it is just another level, really. It was a really good experience.”

To drive the point even further, Langford put on a show in the College World Series final against SEC-rival LSU, where he went 7-for-13 (.538) with two home runs, three doubles and eight RBIs.

“We put so much time and effort and scouting, that was like the icing on the cake at the end,” said Rangers director of amateur scouting Kip Fagg. “I think really, probably our minds were made up before that, but it's always good to see, and makes you feel a little better, and that he's out there performing on the big stage like the College World Series.”

That being said, Langford and the Rangers are eager to get the outfielder to the next stage of his baseball career, wherever that may be. Next week, he will head to Surprise, Ariz., with the rest of Texas’ Draft class before reporting to a Minor League affiliate.

And hopefully sooner rather than later, he’ll be back to Arlington on an even bigger stage.

“I think given just the state of SEC baseball, you're really playing on the big stage every weekend,” said general manager Chris Young. “So I don't think we had any questions in terms of if he could handle the biggest stage. Certainly he went to the College World Series and showed everybody that there was no reason to question that.

“Our scouts did a tremendous job, Kip and his team. And we knew everything, I think, there was to know about why he was a great fit for the Texas Rangers. We had no concerns, whether he played in the College World Series or not. We're very excited to see him get out playing soon.”