Texas Rangers select Wyatt Langford

2023 MLB Draft: The Texas Rangers have selected University of Florida outfielder Wyatt Langford.

Langford is a righthanded hitter and thrower whose draft profile from MLB Pipeline can be seen here.

Langford put up a .356/.447/.719 slash line in 66 games as a sophomore in 2022, and a .373/.498/.784 slash line in 64 games as a junior. He fits the profile the Rangers have prioritized in recent years with their position players in the draft — a strong hit tool with stellar exit velocities and a history of performing at a high level against top competition.

Langford was generally seen as going in the top three picks of the draft, and the consensus mocks the last few days had him going #1 overall. Langford dropping to Texas at #4 seemed like the (reasonable) best case scenario for most of the year, and when that happened, the Rangers went chalk.

As was the case last year, the Rangers do not have picks in round two or round three, having lost those picks due to signing free agents Jacob deGrom and Nathan Eovaldi. Their next selection will be their fourth rounder, #108 overall.

The Rangers total bonus pool for the 2023 MLB Draft is $9,925.300, with slot at #4 being $7,698,000. They can go up to 5% over that amount without losing future draft picks.