TORONTO — Rangers center fielder Evan Carter feels good.
He doesn’t just mean that his sore side feels better.
“I think it’s about to be really good,” Carter said Sunday morning. “I think I’m about to be really good.”
The 24-year-old mustered just a .176/.292/.321 slash line in a career-high 66 games before his injury, but in the six before his placement on the injured list, he slashed .280/.375/.286 with a hit in five of them.
“I think this year has been a thing of, I’m not hitting the ball as good as I want to be hitting the ball, but then when I do hit it, it gets caught,” Carter said. “It’s one of those things of some double bad luck, but also, I’m not performing the way I want to perform. I think I was swinging at good pitches, not fouling balls off, putting it forward, hitting it hard [before the injury]. I felt confident, I feel really confident right now, and obviously you always want to feel that way, but I think it’s about to be good.”
He now wants to prove his worth beyond that.
“I’ve been really happy with my defense this year, and it’s helped keep me sane,” Carter said, “but I know I’m a better player than a defensive-first outfielder.”