During last year’s MLB Draft, everybody assumed Dylan Crews would be the first pick until the Pittsburgh Pirates, prioritizing their pitching needs, went ahead and took Paul Skenes with the No. 1 selection.
The Washington Nationals took Crews after that.
The fourth pick, Wyatt Langford, is having the best spring of the group, though.
Langford was taken by the Texas Rangers, the reigning World Series champs, and could be up sooner than we all anticipated.
If his spring performance is any indication, there is a chance he breaks camp with the team.
With a grand slam on Thursday, the offensive machine reached five home runs in exhibition play, as noted by Talkin’ Baseball on Twitter.
Rangers star prospect Wyatt Langford now has five homers this spring! This one a grand slam pic.twitter.com/EEAZPGhVwF
Leaving him down at this point would be negligence by the Rangers, but we all know how this business works.
Every team in the league is always trying to gain an extra year of control with these talented prospects, so they leave them in the minors for a few weeks at the start of the year.
We still don’t know what the Rangers will do with Langford, but he is performing admirably.
He is slashing .361/.442/.806 with five homers and 14 RBI in just 13 spring training games.
Last season, the Rangers placed him in the Complex League, High-A, Double-A, and Triple-A, and none of those leagues could stop him.
While he is not a good defender, there is no denying that his bat is MLB-ready.
If the Rangers are smart, they will take him with them from the go to avoid losing ground to the Houston Astros and the Seattle Mariners.