Rangers Position Preview: Outfield can be strength for Texas in 2025

ARLINGTON, Texas Much like the rest of the team, there was a significant buzz in the air surrounding the outfield for the Texas Rangers heading into the 2024 season.

With Evan Carter having made a massive impact for Texas in such a short time following his debut in September 2023, where he made a very loud mark on the baseball world as the No.

3 hitter for the Rangers in the World Series just a month after he arrived, a lot of stock was put in Carter becoming a staple in left field and at the top of the lineup.

Meanwhile, right fielder Adolis Garcia was fresh off nearly single-handedly ending the Houston Astros in his 2023 ALCS MVP turn and Wyatt Langford, drafted just months earlier No.

4 overall, was set to debut as a leading Rookie of the year candidate.

Outfield was an area where Texas had some of its easiest roster decisions to start the 2024 season.

Ultimately, however, much like the rest of the team in their title defense year, disappointment followed leaving question marks for what can be a strong outfield in 2025.

2024 Opening Day Outfield : Adolis Garcia, Leody Taveras, Evan Carter, Wyatt Langford, Travis Jankowski Projected 2025 Opening Day Outfield : Adolis Garcia, Leody Taveras, Evan Carter, Wyatt Langford, Joc Pederson Garcia was the beating heart of the Rangers for much of 2023, providing highlight reel-worthy throws from right field and producing dramatic home runs in memorable spots at the plate.

2024 was supposed to be much of the same, if not a coronation as a new household name for Garcia, with the Rangers believing that they had another superstar to pair with Corey Seager and Marcus Semien.

Adolis Garcia accomplished 3 things w/ this swing 1) Extended playoff HR streak to 5 straight 2) Set a MLB RECORD for most RBI in a postseason with 22 3) WALKED OFF GAME 1 OF THE WORLD SERIES!!!! (First WS G1 walkoff since Kirk Gibsons famous HR in 1988) pic.twitter.com/grnpvcU6V6 But 2024 saw a precipitous drop in offensive production from the Rangers as a whole, and perhaps nobody saw their numbers fall more than the Rangers right fielder.

Playing in six more games in 2024 than in 2023, Garcia registered six fewer hits, walked 20 fewer times, and maintained the same level of strikeouts.

More glaring, however, was the fact that Garcias power left him.

The Cuban went from a slugging percentage of .508 all the way down to .400, hitting 14 fewer homers.

Similarly, starting center fielder Leody Taveras saw his production crater.

While not as flashy as the other outfielders, Taveras had a very good slash line in 2023, hitting .266/.312/.421 while playing stellar defense.

In 2024, Taveras line dropped drastically to a .229/.289/.352, and he was eventually benched on some evenings in favor of Langford in center field.

Carter, meanwhile, never really got out of the starting blocks.

Seeing an obvious lack of production to start the season, Texas knew something was wrong, but they certainly did not expect that their 22-year old sensation would miss the entire season after the first month with a lower-back stress reaction.

With one top outfield prospect lost, the Rangers leaned more heavily on Langford who started well before the league adjusted to him by May.

Just as Langford began to figure things out, a hamstring strain took him out of action.

Upon coming back, however, Langford would shoulder the production of the outfield, slashing .263/.337/.455 with 15 homers and 63 RBI over the rest of the year.

The second half rebound culminated with Langford sharing league Player of the Month honors with Shohei Ohtani in the seasons final month.

Wyatt Langford: .300 AVG, .996 OPS, 8 HR, 20 RBI Shohei Ohtani: .393 AVG, 1.225 OPS, 10 HR, 32 RBI, 16 SB Your AL and NL Players of the Month for September presented by @Chevrolet ! pic.twitter.com/jXBZqIUJAB Despite early hiccups for a player who had just 47 career minor league games after being drafted in July 2023, the 2024 campaign was a phenomenal showing for the 23 year old who arrived to the big leagues less than a year after he was playing for the University of Florida in the College World Series.

As the Rangers head into 2025, they have made no big moves to augment the outfield, but instead believe in the players that they have and are relying on bounce-back seasons from Garcia and Taveras and a fully healthy Carter to elevate the outfield as a unit that was projected to be among the best in baseball heading into 2024.

In addition to expecting more from the other regulars, Texas is counting on a new level of sustained production from Langford in his sophomore season.

The combination of Carter and Langford is expected to be a strong one-two punch wherever they get slotted in the lineup.

With the outfield making up a huge part of the clubs run-producing capability, a lot of the offenses ability to bounce back will be up to the unit.

The team opted not to retain Travis Jankowski as a backup, going instead for a power-hitting option in Joc Pederson.

While Pederson will function primarily as a designated hitter, the left-handed back has spent most of his career as an outfielder, which should allow him to spell Carter or Garcia on the corners despite not playing a single inning in the field in 2024.

As of now, just like heading into the 2024 season, the Rangers will start the year with Adolis Garcia, Leody Taveras, Evan Carter and Wyatt Langford as the players who will see the majority of time in the outfield.

The hope for this configuration is that 2025 goes how they expected 2024 to go, not how 2024 actually went.

Do you think the Rangers will have one of the American Leagues top outfields in 2025? Share your thoughts with Matt on Twitter @FisherWritesMLB.

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