AL Rookie of the Year watch: How are Rangers’ Wyatt Langford, Evan Carter stacking up?

In 53 years since moving to Texas, the Rangers have only once produced an AL Rookie of the Year position player. This year, they have two of the leading candidates: Evan Carter and Wyatt Langford. Both are off to solid starts.

Oh, it was Mike Hargrove in 1974. But we we digress.

It’s liable to be a crowded field. While there may be buzz around Carter and Langford, Baltimore has the majors’ best farm system, according to the prospect-rankers. And having a high profile is important to create buzz. Baltimore’s Jackson Holliday, the No. 1 prospect in baseball, according to MLB Pipeline, made his debut in the last week. And the Orioles’ Colton Cowser has already pocketed a Player of the Week Award. Let’s check in on the rookies to see who might comprise the field for the Rookie of the Year race. It’s our first Rookie Power Rankings:

1. OF Colton Cowser, Baltimore: The fifth overall pick in 2021 from Sam Houston State is the AL’s Player of the Week and the runaway leader in ROY early-season hype. He went 10 for 23 with four homers last week and took a 1.297 OPS into Tuesday. He had only 42 plate appearances, though, as Baltimore has played the lefty hitter sparingly against lefties.

2. OF Evan Carter, Rangers: During an 0 for 15 start to the season, Carter still found his way on base with six walks. He’s since started hitting more and walking a little less. His seven extra-base hits are second among rookies to Cowser. Once he got his first hit, he rolled off a .986 OPS in the 10 games heading into Tuesday. Though only 21, he doesn’t seem like a rookie because of his roll last September and in the playoffs.

3. OF Wyatt Langford, Rangers: His spring and his incredible fast track to the majors (50 minor league games after being the fourth overall pick), earned him a lot of hype. But so far, perhaps his biggest rookie achievement has been being victimized by Angel Hernandez’ wide strike zone last weekend. He’s not yet slugging, evidenced by a slash line in which his OBP (.338) is higher than his slugging (.317).

4. OF-SS Ceddanne Rafaela, Boston: Two weeks into the season, the Rafaela got a $50 million, eight-year contract, which grabbed headlines. He’s also pulled the old Mookie Betts, moving from center field to shortstop this week. It illustrates just how defensively versatile and talented he is, but offensively, he’s still very much a work in progress. Thanks to a 1 for 20 stretch, he carried a .160/.214/.260/.474 line into Tuesday.

5. SS Jackson Holliday, Baltimore: It caused a minor tremor when the No. 1 prospect in baseball was called up to the big leagues two weeks into the season at the age of 20. So far, it’s been a bit of an adjustment for him with 10 strikeouts in 19 at-bats. He did get his first hit Sunday after starting 0 for 11. He’s on the list right now for his prospect status, not performance. Has the ability to move up fast if performance improves.

6. OF-INF Davis Schneider, Toronto: He hit two homers in the first week of the season, including a game-changing, two-run, ninth-inning shot of Houston’s Josh Hader. With a .517 slugging percentage, he’s got an .851 OPS to put him second among AL rookies. But he’s currently hampered by effectively being in a platoon with Daulton Varsho and has only started half the Jays’ games.

7. 2B Colt Keith, Detroit: The Tigers signed the second baseman to a long-term deal before he made his major league debut. The 22-year-old has struggled at the plate early, though, with a .193/.258/.211/.469 slash line that included just one extra-base hit. He’s got the hype machine necessary to generate buzz as MLB Pipeline’s No. 21 overall prospect entering the season.

8. RHP Emerson Hancock, Seattle: Any young starting pitcher in the Mariners’ rotation is going to generate some buzz. Hancock’s got some ugly numbers — a 7.98 ERA and four homers allowed in 14 innings — but he’s had two adequate starts and one poor one through three turns of Seattle’s rotation.

9. RHP Luis Gil, New York: He’s a Yankee, which alone, generates a bit of a bump. And he’s in the starting rotation. At least for now. He has 20 strikeouts in 14 innings, which is good, but also leads the league in walks with 14. Harder for pitchers to win the award in the AL anyway. In the last decade, Detroit’s Michael Fulmer (2016) was the only full-time pitcher to win. Shohei Ohtani won it in 2018, but made only 10 pitching appearances.

10. LHP Jacob Latz, Rangers: Hard as it is for starters, it’s harder for relievers. And a non-closer? Maybe they fill out the end of a ballot. Last AL ROY as a reliever: Guy named Neftali Feliz in 2010. Anyway, Latz, Boston’s Justin Slaten (a Rule 5 pick from the Rangers) and Cleveland’s Cade Smith are all off to very nice starts. Smith (9 IP) and Latz (8.2) haven’t allowed a run; Slaten (10.1) has allowed just one.

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