An Iowa native and former Dowling Catholic baseball player got some life-changing news during a spring training game Monday night: Carter Baumler, a pitcher, made it on the opening day roster for the Texas Rangers. Baumler was on the mound during the fifth inning of Monday’s spring training game, where the Texas Rangers were taking on the Kansas City Royals, when he found out. Rangers manager Skip Schumaker approached him after he retired the first two hitters at the top of the inning. Baumler and his teammates surrounding the pitcher and manager could be seen smiling after a few seconds of conversation. Once Schumaker made his way back from the mound, Baumler’s teammates could be seen congratulating him. The entire moment left a sense of pride and happiness for Baumler from some people who know him well. “That was probably the first time I’ve ever seen that unique situation where the manager walks out the middle of the game and was able to break the news to him, and all of his teammates were kind of around him,” said Jarek Sefrit, Dowling Catholic’s head baseball coach. While Sefrit is Dowling Catholic’s head baseball coach now, he says he was part of the staff when Baumler went to high school there. “He actually pitched on the varsity team for four years — a little bit even when he was a freshman,” said Sefrit. “He has earned everything he has gotten now.”Baumler was drafted right out of school in 2020. He was picked 133rd overall by the Baltimore Orioles organization. “There’s a couple years where he had to fight through injuries, and it made him work harder,” said Jason Pearson, the pitching director of the Iowa Sticks Baseball Club. “In the winter before big league camp, he was really in here every day working his tail off.”Baumler was a member of the Iowa Sticks Baseball Club. Pearson recalls meeting him when he was somewhere between 12 and 14 years old. On Tuesday morning, the Iowa Sticks celebrated Baumler via a social media post where the club called him a “standout” and highlighted his accomplishments, “from grinding it out in Iowa to battling through injuries, Baumler just made it all count with an impressive ZERO ERA in spring training — and now he’s headed to the big leagues.””He was a very good athlete when he was younger, and then when he got to high school, he played the fall with us a lot. Then I got to watch him pitch a lot more in that era where he started to really develop his body to go compete,” said Pearson. “He’s a hard worker. He always wants to learn.”In addition to wanting to learn, both Pearson and Sefrit say Baumler is always willing to share what he learns with others. Both men say he’s been known to drop by and work and speak with younger players. “Carter talked to the team about a year or so ago and said one of his best quotes that I’ve heard is ‘how you do anything is how you do everything. How you take care of the little stuff in your life — school work and everything like that — translates to the baseball field and vice versa,'” recalled Sefrit. Years of hard work and perseverance led to the Monday night’s reveal. Right after the moment on the mound? He worked a perfect inning — retiring one more hitter during the fifth.

DES MOINES, Iowa —

An Iowa native and former Dowling Catholic baseball player got some life-changing news during a spring training game Monday night: Carter Baumler, a pitcher, made it on the opening day roster for the Texas Rangers.

Baumler was on the mound during the fifth inning of Monday’s spring training game, where the Texas Rangers were taking on the Kansas City Royals, when he found out. Rangers manager Skip Schumaker approached him after he retired the first two hitters at the top of the inning.

Baumler and his teammates surrounding the pitcher and manager could be seen smiling after a few seconds of conversation. Once Schumaker made his way back from the mound, Baumler’s teammates could be seen congratulating him.

The entire moment left a sense of pride and happiness for Baumler from some people who know him well.

“That was probably the first time I’ve ever seen that unique situation where the manager walks out the middle of the game and was able to break the news to him, and all of his teammates were kind of around him,” said Jarek Sefrit, Dowling Catholic’s head baseball coach.

While Sefrit is Dowling Catholic’s head baseball coach now, he says he was part of the staff when Baumler went to high school there.

“He actually pitched on the varsity team for four years — a little bit even when he was a freshman,” said Sefrit. “He has earned everything he has gotten now.”

Baumler was drafted right out of school in 2020. He was picked 133rd overall by the Baltimore Orioles organization.

“There’s a couple years where he had to fight through injuries, and it made him work harder,” said Jason Pearson, the pitching director of the Iowa Sticks Baseball Club. “In the winter before big league camp, he was really in here every day working his tail off.”

Baumler was a member of the Iowa Sticks Baseball Club. Pearson recalls meeting him when he was somewhere between 12 and 14 years old.

On Tuesday morning, the Iowa Sticks celebrated Baumler via a social media post where the club called him a “standout” and highlighted his accomplishments, “from grinding it out in Iowa to battling through injuries, Baumler just made it all count with an impressive ZERO ERA in spring training — and now he’s headed to the big leagues.”

“He was a very good athlete when he was younger, and then when he got to high school, he played the fall with us a lot. Then I got to watch him pitch a lot more in that era where he started to really develop his body to go compete,” said Pearson. “He’s a hard worker. He always wants to learn.”

In addition to wanting to learn, both Pearson and Sefrit say Baumler is always willing to share what he learns with others. Both men say he’s been known to drop by and work and speak with younger players.

“Carter talked to the team about a year or so ago and said one of his best quotes that I’ve heard is ‘how you do anything is how you do everything. How you take care of the little stuff in your life — school work and everything like that — translates to the baseball field and vice versa,'” recalled Sefrit.

Years of hard work and perseverance led to the Monday night’s reveal. Right after the moment on the mound? He worked a perfect inning — retiring one more hitter during the fifth.