MLB
Texas Rangers rookie Wyatt Langford hits MLB’s first cycle of the 2024 season
A history setting night for the Texas Rangers rookie is the kind of medicine they need to dig their way out of the hole that they are in.
The Texas Rangers have been in need of a spark all season. After falling victim to that old adversary of reigning champs, injury and trade, they have not looked like the sparkling team who ran through the league last season.
But one bright spot for them has been Wyatt Langford. The rookie outfielder has been hitting over .300 over the past month and showing that the faith in him around Arlington is deserved. Now he has done the spectacular.
In the Rangers’ 11-2 win over the Orioles on Sunday, he hit for the cycle. It is Langford’s first in the MLB, the first in the entire league this season, the first for the Rangers since 1985 and only the 11th in franchise history.
For those who are unaware, hitting for the cycle is when a batter hits a single, a double, a triple, and a home run in the same game.
Langford tripled in the fourth, doubled in the fifth, singled in the sixth and blasted a line-drive three-run homer down the left field line in the eighth as Texas snapped its six-game losing streak.
Only nine other players have hit for the cycle while wearing a Rangers uniform since Adrian Beltré did it twice, but this is a career milestone for the young 22-year-old from Trenton, Florida.
After an incredible run with the Florida Gators, including a trip to the College World Series, Langford was picked up in the 2023 Draft by the Rangers at fourth overall, behind Paul Skenes, Dylan Crews, and Max Clark.
Manager Bruce Bochy is very pleased with the Rangers’ acquisition. “In his first year to hit for the cycle, that’s quite a milestone. Guys go through their whole careers and don’t get one. We were all pulling for him, and he didn’t miss it, either.”
Texas are in a pretty deep hole in the AL West, sitting 8.0 games out of first behind the Mariners and Astros. They will need to dig pretty hard, but if Langford keeps it up, they will have a fighting chance.
“It’s going to take everybody, but Langford makes our offense so much better, no getting around that,” said Bochy. “We need everybody, but the way he’s playing is going to be critical for us to take care of him. He’s really played great baseball.”
Langford is now just the eighth player in the last 75 years to cycle within his first 60 career games. The last time that happened was last season when Elly De La Cruz did it in June. Langford is also the first player in MLB history to have a cycle, a grand slam and an inside-the-park homer in his first 60 career games.