Langston attended
Buchser High School in
Santa Clara, California. After graduating in 1978, he was selected in the 15th round (377th overall) of the
1978 Major League Baseball draft by the
Chicago Cubs, who offered him $10,000 to sign with the team. However, he chose not to sign with the Cubs and attend college. In a 2018 interview, Langston told
MLB.com, "I was 17 when I graduated from high school. It would have been interesting – I didn't turn 18 until August, so I don't know how I would have handled that, as a kid that's really never been anywhere. It's completely different than what these kids were exposed to in the Draft now, where they play on all these different select teams and all that. We didn't have any of that, so it would have been really my first big time away from home, and I don't know how it would have panned out." Langston debuted for the Mariners in 1984 with fellow rookie
Alvin Davis. He made his major league debut on April 7, 1984, allowing two earned runs in seven innings while striking out five to earn the win against the
Milwaukee Brewers. Davis' performance won him the
American League Rookie of the Year award, but Langston's performance was voted worthy of the
Rookie Pitcher of the Year award, as he finished the year with a 17–10 record, a 3.40 ERA, and a league-leading 204 strikeouts in 35 games (33 starts). He also led the majors in walks, with 118. He made 24 starts with the Expos, going 12–9 with a 2.39 ERA and 175 strikeouts in innings. In his first start with the Angels on April 11, 1990, he pitched the first seven innings for a 2–0 combined
no-hitter with
Mike Witt. Witt, who had pitched a
perfect game back in 1984, tossed the final two frames. This combined no-hitter remained the last one in Angels history until Ervin Santana pitched a no-hitter on July 27, 2011. Langston was the Angels' starting pitcher for the
1995 American League West tie-breaker game against the Seattle Mariners. He earned the loss, allowing five runs (four earned) on eight hits in innings as the Mariners advanced to the first
American League Division Series. On January 7, 1998, Langston signed a minor league contract with the
San Diego Padres. He appeared in 22 games (16 starts) for the Padres in 1998, going 4–6 with a 5.86 ERA. The Yankees went on to sweep the Padres in four games. After the 1998 season, Langston re-signed with the Padres for the 1999 season, but initially announced his retirement from baseball near the end of Spring Training. However, he changed his mind shortly after, and signed a minor league contract with the
Cleveland Indians on April 4, 1999. He went 1–2 with a 5.25 ERA in 25 games (five starts) with Cleveland. Noted for his
pickoff move to
first base, his 91 career pickoffs were, at the time of his retirement, the most in baseball history. Langston is one of only eight pitchers in MLB history to pick off three runners in a single game which he accomplished against the Cubs in 1989. Today, he has the fourth-most pickoffs in baseball history, behind only
Kenny Rogers,
Terry Mulholland and
Andy Pettitte, all of them also left-handed pitchers. ==Broadcasting==