Texas

Rangers

Although most talent evaluators consider Louisiana State’s Dylan Crews – who went second overall to the Nationals – this year’s top collegiate bat, Langford matched him production-wise while playing left field for the University of Florida the last two years. He batted a sublime .364 with 47 homers in 492 at-bats between 2022 and ’23, finishing with a silly 1.282 OPS this season. The 21-year-old outfielder also offers excellent speed, though he’s erratic defensively in left field, and he probably won’t ever be an option in center field. If he becomes more of a base-stealer as a pro, he could turn into a five-category fantasy monster down the line, and it’s not hard to imagine him reaching the majors at some point during the 2024 campaign. He possesses legitimate 30-homer, 30-steal potential, which would make him an elite fantasy contributor someday.

Josh Jung has had an excellent season so far and will head to Seattle for his first All-Star game on Tuesday. The 25-year-old leads all rookies with 19 homers and is hitting .280/.331/.504 across 375 plate appearances.

He scattered seven hits and walked two on the afternoon. Dunning kept the Nationals off the board until the fifth inning when Dominic Smith hit a ball 406 feet to dead center field. The 28-year-old generated six swinging strikes on 88 pitches thrown, posting a dreadful 23 percent CSW. Even with the dud, Dunning has had an excellent first half of the season and heads in the All-Star break with a 2.84 ERA and an 8-2 record.

After starting the last four games for the Rangers, Heim will take the last game before the All-Star break off. Heim, who was named an All-Star in late June, has been fantastic this season. The switch-hitting catcher is batting .282/.338/474 with 12 homers and 59 RBI across 79 games. Mitch Garver will handle the catching duties on Sunday.

For what it’s worth, of the three homers he allowed, one was a homer in about half of major league parks and another was a homer in only a quarter of stadiums. Still, Heaney gave up mostly hard contact today and paid a heavy price. That’s part of the deal with him. He’s allowed at least six runs four times already, leaving him with a 4.71 ERA. However, he’s been solid enough the rest of the time that the Rangers have managed to go 9-8 in his starts.

Jung has been striking out a scary amount lately — 32 times in his last 76 plate appearances — and yet it’s not taking much of a toll on his numbers, at least not yet. The rookie All-Star has 19 homers and 56 RBI through the Rangers’ first 90 games.

White, who made his major-league debut earlier this season for a contending Rangers’ squad, will toe the rubber in Seattle with a pretty sensational lineup behind him. Here’s the full order: Jonatan Clase (SEA) CF, Marcelo Mayer (BOS) SS, Heston Kjerstad (BAL) RF, Harry Ford (SEA) C, Lawrence Butler (OAK) LF, Junior Caminero (TB) 3B, Tyler Soderstrom (OAK) 1B, Justyn-Henry Malloy (DET) DH and Nick Yorke (BOS) 2B.

The 30-year-old outfielder opened the scoring in the ballgame as he plated Marcus Semien with a run-scoring ground out in the top half of the first inning. He then smacked a two-out double in the fifth inning and scored on Josh Jung’s two-run single. García also unloaded on a Joan Adon slider in the seventh inning, crushing a 395-foot (102.8 mph EV) solo shot that extended the Rangers’ advantage to 6-2. He’s having another outstanding season for the Rangers — hitting .264/.332/.525 with the aforementioned 23 long balls, 73 RBI and six stolen bases.

Jung smacked a two-run single off of Trevor Williams in the fifth inning that turned a 2-1 ballgame into a 4-1 lead for the Rangers. The 25-year-old is certainly having an All-Star caliber season — hitting .274/.324/.485 with 17 homers and 53 RBI in his first full big league campaign.

Seager doubled in the opening inning and came around to score on an RBI ground out off the bat of Adolis Garcia. He then victimized right-hander Joan Adon for his 423-foot (108.1 mph EV) solo shot in the seventh inning — extending the Rangers’ lead to 5-2. With his two-hit evening, the sweet-swinging 29-year-old is now hitting an impressive .361/.421/.630 with 12 long balls and 52 RBI on the season.