Texas Rangers Boss Encouraged by Young Star’s Progress in Minor Leagues

The Texas Rangers are ratcheting up this young star’s work at Triple-A Round Rock and are encouraged by his progress.

May 2, 2024; Arlington, Texas, USA; Texas Rangers center fielder Evan Carter (32) hits a singles and drives in a run against the Washington Nationals during the second inning at Globe Life Field. | Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

ARLINGTON — It’s been more than a year since Evan Carter impressed the Texas Rangers with his incredible stretch run as a rookie in 2023.

Nothing has quite been the same since, thanks in part of a difficult-to-diagnose back injury last season. But president of baseball operations Chris Young is starting to see some light at the end of a tunnel that could lead Carter back to the Majors.

Young spoke to reporters for about 10 minutes on Friday in advance of the game, partially to talk about roster moves, including the demotion of first baseman Jake Burger and the promotion of Blaine Crim from Triple-A Round Rock.

Young was asked about Carter’s progress. He’s encouraged, not just by his raw numbers but the things Carter is now able to do one month into the season.

“We’re putting him in some situations that he may experience here in the Big Leagues,” Young said. “You know, coming off the bench, maybe not starting a game, but coming in when a right-hander comes up. So, we really want to expose him to those kinds of elements, things he may be asked to do. We want to make sure he’s prepared for that.”

A call-up is no imminent. But Young did point out that Carter has been producing at a high level the past two weeks.

His slash of .222/.341/.730 in 19 games comes with an asterisk. He wasn’t playing every day as the Rangers monitored his back, with basically ended his season a year ago.

Carter missed most of last season with a lumbar sprain, which was later diagnosed as a stress reaction. At the end of last season, he said it was something he was going to have to monitor for the rest of his career. But he has not been specific about the full extent of the injury.

On April 9 his batting average was .080. Since then, he’s picked it up to slash .254/.380/.458 with two home runs and seven RBI in April.

Carter had reached base in each of his first 18 games before he went 0-for-4 with no walks on Thursday. Carter went 0-for-3 in the first game of a doubleheader with Sugar Land on Saturday.

Still, Young and manager Bruce Bochy are encouraged. Carter has remained healthy. He’s adjusted his swing path to take stress off his lower back. The fact that he’s working in specific game situations, ones that could re-aggravate the back, is a good sign that he could help Texas sometime soon.

“He’s still going to need some more playing time there,” Bochy said. “We’ll see how things go there the next few weeks. (His performance) will let us know when he’s ready.”