Langford lands on IL with mild oblique strain
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ARLINGTON -- Oblique injuries seem to be going around the Rangers' clubhouse.
On Friday, outfielder Wyatt Langford was placed on the injured list with a mild oblique strain that’s been nagging him for the last couple of weeks. He did not appear in three of the club’s last six games since last Friday, after starting in 46 of 47 games for Texas from April 28-June 19.
He joins first baseman Jake Burger, who landed on the injured list on June 21 with a left oblique strain.
The move is retroactive to June 25.
“It's just the right thing to do with two days off,” said president of baseball operations Chris Young. “It shortens the amount of games missed. I think it’s just about getting this right on the front end. It’s a very low-grade oblique strain, something that's right on the cusp of not IL-ing, but just kind of given how he's feeling and the timing of the off-days, we felt like the right thing to do is to go the IL route and get this thing right.”
Langford was down with an oblique strain earlier this season from April 9-20. He also missed time in Spring Training with a similar injury. He said this current injury doesn’t feel nearly as bad as those two felt.
The Rangers’ second-year outfielder got off to a hot start, slashing .310/.397/.655 in the month of April. He’s struggled since the calendar flipped to May, hitting just .203 with a .626 OPS in his last 46 games dating back to May 1.
In total, he’s slashed .232/.308/.421 with a team-high 13 home runs in 67 games this year, also collecting 10 doubles, 31 RBIs and 11 stolen bases.