Wyatt Lanford Losing Rookie of the Year Sends Message to Rangers Stud

Earlier this week, it was announced that New York Yankees starting pitcher Luis Gil would be named the 2024 American League Rookie of the Year. While there is no question that Gil had a great season with the Yankees, finishing the regular season with a 15-7 record and a 3.50 ERA, many media members and fans around the DFW feel that Rangers outfielder Wyatt Langford was arguably overlooked by voters when determining who would be the 2024 Rookie of the Year.

Langford was never seriously considered to be named Rookie of the Year by the voters. He received only seven votes, which put him in seventh place amongst rookies in the American League. While Langford's rookie campaign was a successful one overall, it could be argued that Langford's rapid acceleration into the league may have hindered his chances of being named Rookie of the Year. 

Langford, who was drafted only a year ago, quickly gained notoriety across the league due to his remarkably quick ascension into the MLB. After Langford was drafted fourth by the Rangers in the summer of 2023, many believed that he could become one of the next great five-tool players in the league, but nobody believed he could emerge into an everyday player for the Rangers as quickly as he did.

After absolutely crushing it during his brief stint in the minors, he was invited to Rangers training camp in Arizona. There, he continued to turn heads and started making people believe that maybe it wouldn't be so outlandish to see Langford on the Rangers' Opening Day roster.

After completing a remarkably successful spring training, Langford finished with an astounding line of .365/.423/.714 and smashed six homers through 21 games. Langford's exceptional play gave the Rangers executives and manager Bruce Bochy no other choice but to put him on the Rangers' 26-man roster to begin the season.

Once the Rangers' season finally began, reality set in for the young rookie. Langford had a much tougher time adjusting to big league pitching than many anticipated he would, finishing the first quarter of his rookie season with a shockingly low .222 average.

As the season continued, however, Langford began to show flashes of the player he was when he accelerated through the Rangers minor league system and showed the potential damage he could one day do in the league once he fully developed as a player. 

One game in particular that stands out during Langford's rookie campaign was when he managed to hit for the cycle and became the second rookie in Rangers history to accomplish the feat. Langford’s cycle was a turning point for the rookie, helping him become arguably the most effective rookie in the AL throughout the second half of the year. He ended the season on a high note, winning AL Player of the Month in September to conclude his rookie season.

Langford ended his season with a respectable .253/.325/.415 line and 19 stolen bases. Although Langford's stats were solid overall for his rookie campaign, he had somewhat of a peak-and-valley season, which is most likely why he was not seriously considered to be Rookie of the Year. 

Although Langford did not come out of the gates as the dominant player that many fans and media members believed he would immediately be, he did show that he has the potential to become an electrifying player for the Rangers for years to come.

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