Welcome back to another year of “Did I rank this guy low enough to signal to you how much I don’t want to draft them? No, I didn’t, did I? Hmm, why is it only Michael Harris II’s ranking truly shows how much I don’t like a guy?” Here’s me thinking I’m The Overrated Whisperer:
Here’s me realizing that I don’t have a player ranked low enough:
I tried my best to rank Wyatt Langford low enough this year, but there’s a little bit of this going on, “I ranked Wyatt Langford around the spot where I’m drafting my 1st starter (between 40 and 60), so there’s no way I’m drafting Wyatt and that’s as low as I need to be.” Listen, you don’t get a BS in Hedge Mangement from Landscaping U. by playing it footloose like Kevin Bacon and fancy free like a doily store’s going out of business sale. (Are there doily stores near you? I don’t know, Google “doily stores near me” and find out! If there’s not, you should open one. Hopefully you never have to make your doily store fancy free with a GOOB sale.) You thinking to yourself, “This em-effer just talked for 200 words and hasn’t said a gee-dee thing.” Yeah, yeah, chillax, homey. So, what can Wyatt Langford do for 2026 fantasy baseball and what makes him overrated?
Arlington sucks balls. For the past year on homers:
That’s not everything for Wyatt Langford’s game, there’s more to him than homers. [a long pause] Right? [another long pause, realizing I have to answer myself] Yeah! There’s speed! He just stole 22 bags and was only caught six times. A whooping 79%. I’m not going to harp on this aspect of his game. He does have 40+ steal speed, but if we’re throwing pennies into the wish fountain, how about we wish that Byron Buxton stays healthy for 162 games or to cure world hunger (wishes in that order)? I’m not wishing on Langford’s steals.
Wyatt Langford’s K% went from 20.6% to 26.4% year over year, and I’m not sure if there’s anyone who had that sorta increase in Ks year over year who is being drafted in the top 50. I did a quick perusal of the top 50 worst K% (Wyatt was 44th worst of last two years), and I didn’t find anyone close to that awful. Devers’s strikeout rate went up, but not nearly 6%. What’s more alarming is Langford’s Chase Rate went down. Yes, you heard that right, he struck out a lot more, but chased a lot less. Any ideas how one pull off that horrendous little oddity? His O-Contact went from 60.6% to 45.6%. I am laughing at how awful that is. O-Contact is amount of pitches a hitter hits outside the zone. (His contact inside the zone worsened too.) So, here’s a scenario for you: Pitcher sees Wyatt chase on the 1st pitch, then on his 2nd pitch the pitcher throws the ball so far outside Langford can’t it with the bristle side of a broom, then on the third pitch the pitcher attempts to hit a nearby barn but not the strike zone.
Wyatt Langford hit .194 vs. changeups. His K% was 52.9%. The next lowest was Nick Kurtz at 39.1%. Langford’s was over 13% worse then a strikeout-heavy power hitter! If you could throw a changeup, you could get out Langford. Ryan McMahon had a 38.5 K% on changes. Ryan McMahon can’t hit. It took me roughly 45 seconds to come up with a game plan to pitch to Langford. How long do you think it’s gonna take MLB pitchers? Oh, I know! It took them roughly one season, and why his 2nd season was markedly worse for his peripherals. I haven’t even bothered to mention Wyatt Langford has obliques made of glass and his inability to play a full season, except for this non-mention. It’s always risky to bet against a guy with speed and power, but with where Wyatt Langford is going in drafts? Stamp him schmohawk and move on!
