Texas Rangers GM Chris Young sees ‘aptitude’ in red-hot rookie Wyatt Langford

Texas Rangers general manager Chris Young appeared on the GBag Nation show on 105.3 The Fan (KRLD-FM) to discuss the returns of Max Scherzer, Josh Jung, and more.

Here are some of the highlights, edited lightly for clarity.

What was your biggest takeaway from the first series sweep of the season?

Chris Young: Most importantly, I thought we showed signs of life from our offense. Really we strung together four or five straight games where we felt like we had really good quality of at-bats. We scored runs. We had timely hitting and certainly our pitching this this weekend with two back-to-back shutouts was outstanding. So I love the way we played. I love the way we competed. I think it’s something to build on. We’ve got a tough road trip ahead of us this week in Milwaukee and Baltimore. But I thought I saw signs of what we have to be successful. I’m hopeful it continues

What did you think about Max Scherzer’s debut and how is he feeling today? How will you manage his workload going forward?

Young: He said he’s feeling good, feeling normal. He said the next couple of days will determine kind of how he bounces back. He didn’t have a normal spring training. He didn’t even have a normal rehab, so to speak. We’re still learning a little bit how he’s going to recover how he’s going to bounce back. He’s still building up strength and endurance as well. So we are going to monitor him closely this week to make sure he recovers well.

But yesterday he was outstanding. It was so fun to watch him. I know that his stuff isn’t what it used to be in terms of when he was in the prime of his career. But watching him pitch and compete yesterday, it just felt like he was a step ahead of the hitters. It is really kind of a lost art in today’s game in terms of seeing a guy who could recognize swings, see what the opponent was trying to do and make adjustments on the fly. Despite the scouting report, it was vintage pitching.

The reality is [Max Scherzer] is 39 years old, he’s turning 40. I know how my body felt at 38 years old when I retired and every day was a challenge. He has kept himself in phenomenal shape. He’s really a freak when it comes to his recovery, the way he’s been able to recover from the surgery and the way he’s gone through his rehab. But we do have to be cognizant of the age and really that’s why we built the pitching staff that way we have. We have, at this point, a surplus of starters. We’re going to need them all. We’ve got starting pitching depth, assuming we stay healthy. It gives us some flexibility to be able to monitor Max, or the other guys, and build in extra rest or bullpen days or, even at some point, skip a start to keep them fresh and healthy throughout the year.

What have you seen from Wyatt Langford as he’s turned the corner and figured things out?

Young: I’ve seen a great aptitude from [Wyatt Langford] in terms of his ability to make adjustments. He obviously had a great spring training and then got off to a cold start here. But I think that should have been expected to some extent with how fast he got through the minor leagues and just adjusting to the quality of big league pitching. We’re seeing it all across the league, offense is down. The pitching in today’s game is so good, and to think that he was in college baseball last year. Now he’s seeing the best pitching in the world on a nightly basis, and you’re starting to see him make adjustments and really feel confident at the plate. The performance this month has really reflected that. It just shows what what a high aptitude Wyatt has for making adjustments, for learning how talented he is, and the hard work that he puts in. I think that the hitting coaches deserve some recognition here as well for identifying a couple things in his swing that have put him in a better position to really handle major league pitching. Collectively they’ve all done a great job, and we’re seeing the results of that.

Josh Smith has been great for the Rangers at third base in Josh Jung’s absence. What’s the plan when Jung returns from his injury?

Young: First of all, Josh Jung is probably not going to be able to play every day as he comes off this. This is a major surgery and to ask him to go out and play every day would be irresponsible. I think that Josh Smith will still get plenty of third base reps. I think that Josh Smith will see time at DH, he can play left field, center field, he can play shortstop, obviously we can spell [Corey Seager], or DH Corey Seager while Josh Smith plays shortstop. Josh Smith has played so well. He’s going to be in the lineup on a daily basis. Where that is position-wise, we’ll figure out. Bruce Bochy is brilliant at moving guys around and keeping guys fresh. We’ll figure out how to get all these guys in the lineup. But the reality is we need all of them going well together, at which point I feel like we’ll make a good run.

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