{"id":139742,"date":"2026-01-27T13:17:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-27T13:17:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/139742\/"},"modified":"2026-01-27T13:17:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T13:17:12","slug":"texas-rangers-evan-carter-has-something-to-prove-in-quest-for-uninterrupted-campaign","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/139742\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas Rangers\u2019 Evan Carter has something to prove in quest for uninterrupted campaign"},"content":{"rendered":"

FRISCO \u2014 The topic that Evan Carter<\/a> has discussed endlessly for the better part of two years is the same one he\u2019d prefer to leave entirely in the past. <\/p>\n

He at least now believes he has a better response than at any other juncture.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like I\u2019ve been kind of telling myself that I feel good in the past,\u201d the Texas Rangers<\/a> outfielder said last Wednesday at the Frisco Embassy Suites. \u201cI actually feel really good right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Carter, the club\u2019s former top prospect and postseason hero,<\/a> has yet to complete a season sans interruptions in his first two full years of big league baseball. He played in just 45 games two seasons ago because of a stress reaction in his lower back that followed a worrisome trend<\/a> of minor league injuries. He started last season at Triple-A Round Rock and played just 63 total games with the Rangers because of a quad strain, back spasms and a broken wrist. The total count of games missed (216) is exactly double the number that he played (108) over a 324-contest span. <\/p>\n

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The 23-year-old has fully recovered from the fracture he suffered Aug. 21 when Kansas City Royals left-hander Daniel Lynch IV ended his season with a fastball to the wrist.<\/a> He\u2019s regained the weight he lost during the season and is up to a \u201ccomfortable\u201d 190 pounds. He worked with hitting coaches Justin Viele and Eric Dorton this winter and said he\u2019s hit balls harder in the cages than he ever has before. <\/p>\n

\u201cI know I\u2019m a big league, everyday starter,\u201d Carter said. \u201cI know I can do it. I\u2019m going to go do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The \u201chow\u201d and \u201cwhere\u201d of that equation have yet to be hashed out. Carter maintains he\u2019s at his best in center field, where he\u2019s started exactly half of his career big league games, but still prides himself on versatility. Newly acquired outfielder Brandon Nimmo<\/a> slots best at one of the corner positions. Rangers manager Skip Schumaker said at the winter meetings last month that there have been \u201cconversations\u201d about whether Gold Glove finalist left fielder Wyatt Langford should play center. <\/a><\/p>\n

Langford\u2019s availability in each of the last two seasons surpasses Carter\u2019s and may favor him in center field discussions. His performance in center \u2014 where Langford has an advantage in defensive runs saved and defensive value in three fewer starts \u2014 may too. Schumaker believes both Carter and Langford are Gold Glove-caliber defenders and can play any of the three positions. <\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t really care,\u201d Carter said. \u201cI\u2019m on a big league team trying to win games. At the end of the day, I just want to be in the lineup every day, and if it\u2019s in right, left or center, if I can help, that\u2019s where I\u2019m going to be.\u201d<\/p>\n

Carter is excited to work with newly minted first base coach Travis Jankowski \u2014 a mentor of his when he first joined the big league roster<\/a> \u2014 and believes that his former teammate can help unlock his full potential in the outfield and on the basepaths. Carter\u2019s 29 feet-per-second sprint speed last season graded in the 90th percentile leaguewide, per Baseball Savant, though his 17 career stolen bases are not reflective of that quickness. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m really fast, but as far as strategy and smartness-wise at baserunning, I can get way better at that,\u201d Carter said. \u201cI feel like he\u2019s going to be somebody that can help me steal 20-30 bags. The goal would be to get 30 bags this year. I think I can do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

That fits with the aggressive team-oriented offense that Schumaker and his staff hope to employ this season. It\u2019s only a useful weapon if Carter can remain on the field \u2014 either by way of health or abilities \u2014 in a full-time capacity. <\/p>\n

The difference between his performance versus right-handed pitchers (where he owns a career .829 OPS) and left-handed pitchers (where he owns a career .275 OPS) is a canyon that\u2019s only widened due to the dearth of opportunities he\u2019s gotten against southpaws. It\u2019s certainly the difference between an everyday role and a platoon gig. <\/p>\n

Carter would prefer to avoid the latter. <\/p>\n

\u201cBang righties to get your opportunities against lefties,\u201d Carter said. \u201cAnd once you get your opportunities, you better capitalize on them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Find more Rangers coverage from The Dallas Morning News here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Click or tap here to sign up for our Rangers newsletter.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FRISCO \u2014 The topic that Evan Carter has discussed endlessly for the better part of two years is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":139743,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[732,39084,6812,1032,154,27,29,28,429],"class_list":{"0":"post-139742","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-texas","8":"tag-article","9":"tag-evan-carter","10":"tag-rangers","11":"tag-skip-schumaker","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-texas","14":"tag-texas-headlines","15":"tag-texas-news","16":"tag-texas-rangers"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139742","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=139742"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139742\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/139743"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=139742"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=139742"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=139742"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}