Amateur career
Langford attended Trenton High School in Trenton,Florida. He played baseball and football at Trenton. In 2019,he won the 2019 Perfect Game National Home Run Derby. [1] Langford committed to the University of Florida to play college baseball. [2]
As a freshman at Florida in 2021,Langford played in four games and had one hit over four at-bats. That summer he played for the Charlottesville Tom Sox in the Valley Baseball League,posting a .346/.459/.527/.987 slash line with 3 home runs and 20 runs batted in (RBI). [3] In 2022,he started all 66 games and hit 26 home runs,which tied Matt LaPorta for most home runs in a season by a Gators player. [4] He finished the season,slashing .356/.447/.719 with 63 RBI. After the season,he played for the United States collegiate national team during the summer. [5] [6] He also played in nine games for the Peninsula Pilots of the Coastal Plain League. [7]
Langford entered the 2023 season as one of the top prospects for the 2023 Major League Baseball draft and the potential first overall pick. [8] [9] [10] Langford slashed .373/.498/.784/1.282 with 21 home runs,57 RBI,and 9 stolen bases for the Gators in 2023. [11] Langford was a 2023 Golden Spikes Award Semifinalist. [12] He was a 2023 unanimous First Team All-American. Langford helped lead Florida to the 2023 Men's College World Series finals and was named to the 2023 College World Series All-Tournament Team. [13]
Professional career
The Texas Rangers chose Langford in the first round,with the fourth overall selection,in the 2023 MLB draft. [14] On July 18,Langford signed with Texas for a $8 million signing bonus. [14] Langford made his professional debut with the ACL Rangers of the Rookie-level Arizona Complex League,hitting .385 with 1 home run and 4 RBI over 3 games. [15] He was promoted to the Hickory Crawdads of the High-A South Atlantic League on August 2. [16] Over 24 games for Hickory,he hit .333/.453/.644/1.097 with 5 home runs,15 RBI,and 7 stolen bases. [17] Langford was then promoted to the Frisco RoughRiders of the Double-A Texas League for the final 12 games of their season,hitting .405/.519/.762/1.280 with 4 home runs,10 RBI,and 1 stolen base. [18] Langford's rapid ascent through the minor leagues contained one final stop in 2023,with a promotion on September 19 to the Round Rock Express of the Triple-A Pacific Coast League for the final 6 games of their season. [19] [20]
Langford made the Rangers Opening Day roster in 2024. [21] On April 28,he hit his first home run,an inside-the-park home run off Andrew Abbott of the Cincinnati Reds. [22] Playing three games at Round Rock in May,he batted .200/.273/.200. [23] On June 22,against the Kansas City Royals,Langford hit his first career grand slam off reliever Ángel Zerpa in the eighth inning. [24] On June 30,he hit for the cycle against the Baltimore Orioles,the 11th player to accomplish the feat in franchise history. [25] [a] On September 3,Langford hit a walk-off grand slam against the New York Yankees,the 8th one in franchise history. [27] Additionally,he is the first player since Jackie Robinson,and the first rookie ever,to hit an inside-the-park homer,a walk-off grand slam,and hit for the cycle in the same season. [28]
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