Rangers Outfielder Gets Good News After Being Hit by Pitch Against Royals

The Texas Rangers don’t have to brace for the worst when it comes to one of their key young outfielders.

One day after center fielder Evan Carter underwent precautionary X-rays after he was hit by a pitch on Friday, those X-rays came back clean, per MLB.com’s Kennedi Landry.

Carter was not in the lineup for a second straight day. The Rangers went with Michael Helman in center field and will bat night. Rangers manager Skip Schumaker said that Carter still has soreness in his left foot but is available off the bench.

Texas gets on a plane after Sunday’s game against the Kansas City Royals to head to St. Louis to face the Cardinals in a three-game series that starts on Monday. The Rangers get a scheduled day off on Thursday.

Evan Carter’s 2026 Season

Texas Rangers center fielder Evan Carter swings his bat at a baseball during a game. — Texas Rangers center fielder Evan Carter. | Raymond Carlin III-Imagn Images

Carter — who has dealt with major injuries in 2024 and 2025 — has played in 56 games, close to his career high for a single season. While he’s considered an above-average defender, he’s still struggling at the plate, with a slash of .175/.296/.343 with six home runs and 18 RBI. His six home runs is a career high for a single MLB season. But he remains a poor match-up against left-handed pitching and has to be platooned in those situations.

On Friday Carter was hit on the inside of his left foot on a pitch late in the game. He received a visit from the team trainer and from Schumaker while he walked to first base. He took a test sprint and remained in the game. He played the rest of the game. But, he wasn’t available Saturday as he got the X-rays and Texas opted to give him a day of rest while waiting for the results.

Carter’s focus in spring training was on being healthy and available each day. In 2024 he missed most of the season with a stress reaction that was eventually diagnosed as a lumbar strain. He had an ablation procedure that offseason. Then in 2025, he suffered three injuries — a right quad strain, back spasms and a right wrist fracture that ended his season in late August.

The Rangers are already down one outfielder as Wyatt Langford has been on the injured list since April with a right forearm strain. He went 0-for-2 with two walks and two runs scored on Saturday at Triple-A Round Rock, but he’s expected to need a few games before he can return to the Rangers. Langford said on Friday he is targeting June 5 against Cleveland.

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