The strong start of rookie Texas Rangers outfielder Wyatt Langford has not gone unnoticed. Major League Baseball announced that Langford has been named the American League Rookie of the Month for June. The announcement came early Wednesday morning. This is the first time that any Rangers player has won a league monthly award since May 2023. When it occurred last year, righty Nathan Eovaldi won AL Pitcher of the Month and third baseman Josh Jung won AL Rookie of the Month.
Make it a Dozen
This is the 12th instance of a Rangers player winning this award since it was first introduced in 2001. Langford is the 10th Ranger overall to take the honors. The only non-pitchers to win the award for the Rangers are Langford, Jung, Adolis Garcia, Nomar Mazara, Delino DeShields, and Gerald Laird. Wyatt Langford is the third Ranger to win it in June or later in a season, joining Neftali Feliz in September of 2010, and Martin Perez in August of 2013.
Langford, whom the Rangers selected fourth overall out of Florida in the first round of last July’s Draft, struggled in his first month and change in the majors before a hamstring strain sidelined him for three weeks. The rest period allowed Langford a chance to reset and develop into one of the Rangers’ most productive hitters since his return. Of his 45 batted balls that’ve carried an exit velocity of 100-plus mph this season, 25 came in the month of June. He led the majors with 13 with runners in scoring position last month and hit .464 (13-for-28) in those scenarios.
Langford Keeps Swinging
Langford hit his first career outside-the-park home run on June 18 against the New York Mets. He hit his first grand slam on June 22 against the Kansas City Royals and became the 11th player in franchise history to hit for the cycle on Sunday night against the Baltimore Orioles. Langford, according to Elias Sports Bureau, is the first rookie in baseball history to collect an inside-the-park home run, grand slam, and a cycle in a single season. He donated his spikes from Sunday’s cycle game to the Baseball Hall of Fame on Tuesday.
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