SURPRISE, Ariz. -- There are two things that Evan Carter would like to stop talking about soon enough: his ongoing health and his ability to hit left-handed pitching.
He understands why the topics persist. But it’s up to him to change the narrative.
It’s been well-documented at this point. Carter has been snakebitten with injuries in his young big league career. He debuted in September 2023 and became a big piece of the Rangers’ World Series-winning team, appearing in every postseason game during the run.
But he played in just 45 games in 2024 due to lingering back issues. He then opened ‘25 with Triple-A Round Rock, but then had three IL stints -- with a quad strain in May, back spasms in August and then with a broken wrist just 10 days later.
“Health wise, I feel really, really good,” Carter said right before he reported to Arizona. “I’m excited about it. I’m trying not to jinx anything or get too giddy, but feel really good. I feel like I've kind of been telling myself that I felt good in the past. I feel really good right now. I feel like we had a good routine that we were kind of trying to get on top of before things out of my control happened last season. So yeah I feel really good.”
New Rangers manager Skip Schumaker has said that, first and foremost, it's their jobs to keep Carter healthy and on the field.
Carter sees it as his responsibility just as much.
“I mean, listen, at the end of the day, for me, I need to go out there,” Carter said. “It's in my job description. I need to be out there and at least be available for 162 games. I'm doing everything that I can to do that. I would echo the same thing he says. I know, I'm a big league everyday starter. I have to -- I don’t know -- prove the haters wrong. I'm gonna go do it.”
Now to that other point, which is a bit more within his control.
Carter has a career slash line of .262/.350/.479/.829 against right-handed pitching. In parts of his three big league seasons, he’s compiled just 68 plate appearances against left-handed pitchers, coming out to a .083/.191/.083/.275 slash line.
It was a talking point when he was a prospect. It was a talking point during the World Series run, when he would sit against left-handed starting pitching. It’s been a talking point over the last two years, even as he’s continued to be given limited opportunities to remedy his struggles.
“Obviously with the lefty stuff, if you bang righties, you get your opportunities against lefties,” Carter said. “Once you get your opportunities better, you capitalize on them. I don't really know what else to do at the end of the day.
“It's one of those things that, once you get told something so many times, it's the internal battle of trying not to believe what's been said so many times. On top of that internal battle, it's like, 'let’s freaking do it. I can do it. I know I can.' So the opportunities that you get, I was really encouraged at the end of last year. I felt like I was having good at-bats. I’m just trying to build off of some stuff. I think it'd be really helpful.”
Early this spring has been promising. In Sunday’s Cactus League matchup with the Rockies, he drew a four-pitch walk and scorched a lineout at an exit velocity of 110.9 mph in his two plate appearances against a left-handed pitcher.
Days like that is what will undoubtedly lead to him being an everyday player.
“When he's taking his walks, when he's controlling the strike zone, he’s really good,” Schumaker said. “He's not bailing. If you bail a little bit, you're in trouble. And he's like in the fight against the lefties right now, and that's why his quality of at-bat is really good. … You can't really have asked for a better day against two lefties today.”