Carter undergoes hip surgery, will likely miss start of '27 season

ARLINGTON -- Rangers outfielder Evan Carter underwent arthroscopic surgery on his right hip last week to address a labral injury and a hip impingement, president of baseball operations Chris Young announced on Monday. It was performed by Dr. William J. Robertson in Arlington.

Carter will not be ready for the start of 2027, but Young expects him to play a sizable chunk of the year.

Young said Carter finished the season with some discomfort, which then continued into the offseason. Carter then saw two specialists, at which point he elected for the surgery.

Carter played in a career-high 141 games in 2026, blowing past his previous totals. He had one injured-list stint, a right oblique strain in mid-June, but otherwise he was the healthiest he’s been since ‘23.

Carter finished the season slashing .194/.288/.315 with nine home runs, 47 walks and 114 strikeouts. He remained on the field due to his elite defense -- and was a Gold Glove Award finalist -- but if the Rangers had been fully healthy down the stretch, it’s likely that Carter would have been a late-inning defensive replacement for much of September.

Now, what was set to be a major offseason for Carter to get back on track will be spent getting healthy once again.

“I do believe, in light of what we've learned in this diagnosis for Evan, that it probably impacted him to some degree over the course of the season,” Young said. “I think it's safe to say, given the extent of the surgery, that there was something in there.

“That said, he still is a young player with a bright career ahead of him. Our doctors anticipate that he will make a full recovery, but you know it's going to be an offseason of rehabbing versus an offseason of training for next season.”

Young emphasized that finding a replacement in center field will become a priority this offseason.

There are a number of free-agent center fielders on the market, including Fort Worth-area native Trent Grisham. Young mentioned the Rangers could also opt to slide Wyatt Langford over to center field and backfill left instead, while also noting that it isn’t something that the team is committed to at this point.

“There's no doubt that we have to be cognizant that Evan's coming off a major surgery, and that we're going to have to find potential backfills if he is not ready to start the season, or if there are any setbacks,” Young said. “It doesn't change our belief in Evan long term, but it does change our short-term plans that we need to have a backfill and somebody who can certainly fill in or play a very solid center field and hopefully contribute offensively.”