Rangers Need Wyatt Langford, Evan Carter to Move Around Outfield This Spring

For Texas Rangers fans that saw the lineup for Tuesday’s spring game with the Arizona Diamondbacks their eyes were not deceiving them.

Wyatt Langford made his spring training debut in the game alongside Evan Carter, who was playing his third spring training game. Yes, that was Langford in center field and Carter in left field, the opposite of their configuration last season.

It was by design but don’t read it to be a position change, according to Rangers manager Skip Schumaker.

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“I said before spring training started that they're both gonna get center field and left field reps,” he said. “Probably the next time around you'll see the opposite. So, this just happened to land on that day.”

It’s part of the process of spring training. Different players work in different positions. But it especially relevant for this pair of players.

Figuring Out the Outfield Puzzle

Texas Rangers left fielder Wyatt Langford runs the bases. — Texas Rangers left fielder Wyatt Langford . | Raymond Carlin III-Imagn Images

Both are entering their third full Major League seasons. Langford is approaching All-Star status. Carter has dealt with significant injuries that have limited him to 131 MLB games. Schumaker believes both have not tapped their full potential yet. Part of doing so is making sure both are on the field as much as possible.

Carter missed nearly all of 2024 with a stress reaction in his back. He missed the final two months of last season with a fractured wrist. Lanford played most of the season but spent three different stints on the injured list, all with oblique injuries.

So, who plays center field when the position, in Schumaker’s opinion is a position that is more taxing and requires leadership? He needs the spring to figure that out.

“Center field is a leadership position,” Schumaker said. “I think anything up the middle is a leadership position and we want to see that out of whoever gets that spot.”

Carter was the player with incredible potential after he was called up for the final month of the 2023 season and was the starting left fielder in the 2023 World Series. He has a career slash of .235/.326/.420 with 15 home runs and 52 RBI. He has above average tools. Carter believes he can steal 25 bases in a healthy season. Schumaker believes Carter still has development to do that would allow him to be more productive, along with staying healthy.

“I'm trying to get Carter to stay healthy and be on the field every day,” Schumaker said. “I think that's the goal for him. It's the goal for us as an organization because we want to see what he can do over a course of a full healthy season.”

Langford was an AL Gold Glove finalist as a left fielder last season. He slashed .241/.344/.431 with 22 home runs and 62 RBI. He said earlier in spring training that he says he’s not a “.250 hitter.” He spent the offseason reworking his routine to stabilize his obliques and avoid the injuries he suffered last year.

In the offseason, MLB Network selected Langford as a Top 10 center fielder even though it isn’t his primary position.

Center field isn’t his position — yet. It isn’t Carter’s position yet, either. Spring training will determine where they align on opening day. Ideally, both are healthy and the Rangers have options. That’s part of the reason Schumaker is handling the pair this way so far in spring training.

But that doesn’t mean outsiders won’t read between the lines. Schumaker isn’t worried about it.

“I’ve got to see them both play center and left and try to figure out the ways that we can be most successful and keep both of them on the field,” he said.