Baeza, Langford nab MLB Draft League weekly honors

NEW YORK -- The MLB Draft League announced that Frederick’s Alex Baeza and Ryan Langford were named Hitter and Pitcher of the Week, respectively, for the period of Aug. 8 to Aug. 14.

Baeza, 24, receives Hitter of the Week honors after batting .600 (6-for-10) with four home runs and six RBI in three games for the Keys. He paced all MLB Draft League hitters during the period in home runs, average, OBP (.667), slugging (1.900) and OPS (2.567), and finished tied for second in runs scored (6) and total bases (19).

Baeza hit four home runs in 12 plate appearances and recorded multiple hits in all three games during Frederick’s weekend series against Mahoning Valley. The first baseman hit a pair of solo home runs Friday, going deep in the second and sixth innings in his first multi-homer game this season, and added another solo shot and a double the following day, finishing 2-for-3. Baeza connected on his fourth home run of the series Sunday, going 2-for-3 with three RBI and two walks in the Keys’ 11-2 victory.

Baeza is batting .308 with a league-leading six home runs in 16 games during the MLB Draft League season. He also ranks second in both OPS (1.105) and RBI (22) and seventh in total bases (36). A West Jordan, Utah native, Baeza played four seasons at the University of Hawaii before transferring to the University of Utah, where he batted .278 with 41 RBI and a team-leading 17 doubles in 54 games as a graduate student this past spring. He became the first player in program history to win an ABCA/Rawlings Gold Glove award after first being nominated in 2021 as a Hawaii senior.

Langford, 22, struck out the side in back-to-back games as he closed out Frederick’s weekend wins over Mahoning Valley. The right-handed pitcher recorded two swinging strikeouts on 14 pitches (10 strikes) on Aug. 13, then racked up two more swinging strikeouts on another 14 pitches (nine strikes) the next night.

Langford has not allowed an earned run in four of his five Keys appearances this season. He’s posted a 1.35 ERA over 6.2 innings, compiling 15 strikeouts (20.3 K/9) against three hits (.130 BAA) in that span. A native of Pembroke Pines, Fla., Langford joined Frederick after completing his senior season at Florida Southern College, where he registered nine saves and a 1.80 ERA in 20 games. He garnered ABCA South All-Region and All-SSC 2nd Team honors.

For more information about the MLB Draft League, visit mlbdraftleague.com or follow @mlbdraftleague & @draftleaguedata on Twitter, and @mlbdraftleague on Instagram.

For more information on the Frederick Keys, please contact Gareth Kwok at [email protected].