Named After a Ballpark

The Name

His parents were New York Mets fans, and they named him after a stadium. Shea Ryan Langeliers was born in Portland, Oregon, and attended Keller High School in Keller, Texas. His father Steve encouraged him to play catcher, viewing it as the best path to succeed in baseball. When Toronto drafted Shea in the 34th round out of high school in 2016, Steve backed his son's decision not to sign. An 18-year-old who did not feel ready to live months away from his family went to Baylor instead, majored in engineering, and was an honors student.

The Arc

Atlanta took him ninth overall in 2019 — a $4 million bonus — and sent him to Oakland in March 2022 as the centerpiece of a package for Matt Olson. He debuted that August against the Rangers, the team he rooted for while growing up in the area, and doubled on the first pitch he saw. The next night he hit his first major-league home run off them.

Five seasons and 528 games later, Langeliers carries a .240 average and a .471 slugging percentage. On May 12 of this year he hit his 100th career home run. He has hit eleven more since. He has been selected to his first All-Star team in 2026.

The Chapter

In May, he and his wife Raegan — a Baylor soccer player turned doctor of physical therapy — welcomed their first child, Owen Wade. Langeliers returned from paternity leave and hit a two-run homer in his first at-bat back. He described gaining a new level of love and respect for what his wife went through, and said he felt he had graduated into a more responsible chapter of life.

He is 28. He is still behind the plate for the Athletics, with 93 games already logged this season.

Reporting: Baylor Athletics, MLB.com, Wikipedia. Career and biographical data: MLB StatsAPI, via the Fever engine.