Top Prospect Evan Carter Remains in Rangers Camp

Bruce Bochy explained why the Rangers' top outfield prospect wasn't sent to minor-league camp last weekend.

The Texas Rangers sent a host of young prospects to minor-league camp on Saturday.

Evan Carter, considered the organization’s No. 1 prospect, wasn’t one of them.

Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said one shouldn’t read anything into why Carter is still in Major League camp and other players like pitchers Jack Leiter and Kumar Rocker went down.

It comes down to playing time.

“We have a lot of playing time for (Carter),” Bochy said. “We see a lot of time in our outfield situation for Evan and he’ll continue to get some time here. With the other guys, it was more about letting them get ready for their seasons. We think we can do that here right now with Evan.”

Carter’s play early in Spring Training has put him in this position.

“You look at what he’s been doing here, and he’s given us great at-bats and he’s playing great outfield,” Bochy said. “You don’t throw anything out, but this is a young kid.”

Carter is just 20 and the Rangers want to give him a good, long look in Major League camp. But with Adolis García, Leody Taveras, Robbie Grossman and Bubba Thompson, the Rangers look to have a quartet of outfielders they can turn do for opening day, assuming they’re healthy.

So Carter isn’t angling for a job with the Rangers just yet.

Carter was the Rangers’ second-round pick in 2020. He played just 32 games in 2021, but he built on those numbers in 2022.

Overall in several stops, he batted .295/.397/.489/.886 in 106 games (117-for-397), with 86 runs, 21 doubles, 10 triples, 12 home runs and 73 RBI. Carter was named Baseball America’s Rangers Prospect of the Year for 2022.

With the Double-A Frisco RoughRiders, he batted .429/.536/.714/1.250 with a home runs and six RBI in seven games.

Carter will likely end up back at Frisco to start 2023, though he could certainly play his way into a promotion to Triple-A Round Rock by the end of Spring Training. Most services see Carter as a player that could make his Major League debut in 2024.

He was at the top of both the ESPN.com and the MLB.com Top 100 prospects lists as far as the Rangers were concerned. ESPN called him an “on-base machine with plus speed” and has one of the lowest chase rates in minor-league baseball.

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