ARLINGTON — There is this theory in baseball, that a team takes on the personality of its best player. And there is a theory inside the Rangers organization that, at some point, the team is going to take on the personality of Wyatt Langford.
If so, you might consider the last couple of weeks a glimpse into the future.
That future looks bright.
Texas Rangers’ Wyatt Langford celebrates with Joc Pederson (4) after hitting a solo home run against the Arizona Diamondbacks in the sixth inning of a baseball game, Monday, Sept. 1, 2025, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Rick Scuteri)
Rick Scuteri / AP
Rangers
As the Rangers have lost veterans by the bushel and turned more and more to young players, Langford chief among them, both the player and the team have surged. And, yeah, maybe you’ve heard, there appears to be a more charismatic dynamic on the field for the team.
“When you have the injuries that we’ve had, with a lot of core guys out, yeah, we need the kids,” manager Bruce Bochy said after the Rangers’ 4-3 12-inning win over Houston on Friday. “They are coming through, doing some really good things, all of them. I keep saying that you’ve got to focus forward and let the guys show you what they can. They are taking advantage of it.”
In particular, Bochy was referring to the play of rookies Cody Freeman, who scored the winning run on Friday, and Dustin Harris, who drove it in. But, it should be noted, both are older than Langford, who won’t turn 24 until November. In fact, there is only one player on the active roster younger than Langford, 22-year-old Alejandro Osuna. He’s provided a nice spark in the last week, too.
But spark doesn’t come close to describing Langford’s heater. Or the team’s. Consider this: Entering Saturday’s game with Houston, the Rangers had gone 10-3 since Aug. 22, the first day they were without both Marcus Semien and Evan Carter (the list has since grown to include Corey Seager and Adolis García on the position player side). It’s their hottest 13-game stretch of the season.
About Langford, he’d slashed .319/.424/.638/1.062 in that stretch. He ranked in the top 10 in the AL in on-base percentage, slugging and OPS.
In Friday’s win, he reached base four times in six plate appearances, with a pair of doubles and a pair of walks. His second double, with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, was a scorcher off the top of the left field wall, just two feet from being a walk-off laser.
Texas Rangers’ Wyatt Langford celebrates his double in the first inning of a baseball game against the Houston Astros Friday, Sept. 5, 2025, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)
Tony Gutierrez / AP
He began the 12th inning by accepting a walk from Lance McCullers Jr., who pitched around him. There’s no quantifiable metric that suggests having a pitcher work around a hitter to start his day hurts his command, but it certainly doesn’t help. Regardless, he didn’t try to do too much to win the game, leaving that for the next guy. The next guy was Harris, whose double scored Freeman.
“It sucks when you lose guys like that,” Langford said of the multiple injuries. “But I think everyone kind of gets that feeling of we’re all trying to just go out there and play better for each other, and for those guys that are out.
“I don’t feel like I need to do more. I’ve just kind of gone with the things I’ve got. I got hot at the time we needed, sure. But it’s not just me. I mean, a bunch of guys have gotten hot. I wouldn’t say it’s all me. We’ve had a lot of guys step up.”
Rarely does a guy choose to anoint himself the leader of a team. And certainly not a 23-year-old. Rather, leadership is forced on one by others simply following. When a team is absent its veteran leadership, eyes drift. With Langford’s play, more eyes are focused on him.
They are seeing a guy muttering to himself under his breath at the plate as a psychological tool in the batters’ box. They are seeing a guy unafraid to slam his helmet down in frustration when an opposite-field drive is caught at the wall, as Langford did in Arizona. They are seeing a guy with one speed on the bases: All gas, no breaks. They are seeing a guy willing to take walks (he’s fifth in walk percentage in the AL since Aug. 1). And they are seeing a guy willing to move positions daily — or in-game — from left to center to accommodate others.
And they are seeing a pretty good glimpse of what the future personality of the team looks like.
Twitter: @Evan_P_Grant
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