Get Carter! Texas Rangers Giving Rare Playoff Opportunity to Rookie Evan Carter
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – It has been a whirlwind month for Texas Rangers rookie outfielder Evan Carter.
When he was called up on Sept. 8, the Rangers were still floundering from the residue of their stretch of 16 losses in 20 games.
Carter, who turned 21 on Aug. 29, has not responded like a typical rookie finally getting a taste of the big leagues. He's hitting .306 with four doubles, a triple, five home runs, 19 RBI and three stolen bases. He's got an on-base percentage plus slugging of 1.058.
The past three weeks with the Rangers (90-72), which has included must-win situations nearly every night to earn a playoff berth, has helped prepare Carter for the stakes and the drama involved when Texas faces the Tampa Bay Rays (99-63) in the best-of-3 Wild Card series, beginning with Game 1 at 2:08 p.m. Tuesday at Tropicana Field. The game can be watched on ABC, including WFAA/Ch. 8 in Dallas-Fort Worth.
Take the cross-country flight the team took from Seattle to Tampa Sunday night. It didn't much faze Carter.
"That might be the longest flight I've actually been on but it was good," Carter said from Tropicana Field on Monday. "I tried not to fall asleep so I could actually sleep when we got to the hotel, but didn't do a good job of that. But it was good. We're excited to play [Tuesday] and hopefully to get a series."
The Rangers had a golden opportunity to win the AL West, but lost three of four in Seattle and had to settle for a Wild Card spot. By the time Tuesday's Wild Card game starts, all of that will be an ancient memory.
"Baseball is a game of short memory. So we're in the playoffs. We're here now, this is where we're at, this is what we're working for," Carter said.
Carter has spent extra time picking the brains of his teammates on the various Rays pitchers, how they work hitters, what their best pitches are and the best way to attack them. Carter said he's been leaning on them, veterans such as Marcus Semien, Corey Seager and Mitch Garver.
"They've been great, you know, helping me out and just kind of pointing me in the right direction," he said. "We've got a great clubhouse, you know, a good mix of young guys and guys who have been there and done that, and a lot of guys that have been to the playoffs before and won some World Series. So we've definitely got some experience there. And I'm just going to lean on them ... and kind of go in a little bit more prepared than I would be otherwise."
Carter, so far, has been a jolt of youth to the lineup and helped lengthen the Rangers' scoring options while batting ninth. Could that change in the playoffs? Could he be moved up higher in the order? Bruce Bochy may need to shake things up if his offense continues to struggle like it did in Seattle.
The whole experience has been a crash course for Carter, who seems poised to be a fixture in Texas' lineup for years to come.
"Yeah, it's, it's been awesome. Obviously, the goal for every baseball player is to win the World Series," Carter said. "So I mean, to have the opportunity to come into a club that's right there, and we earned the opportunity to play for that and get into the postseason, it's been a dream come true. Getting called up was an amazing experience for me but that moves on really quickly when I get to get a chance to play in the playoffs like this. So it's really exciting."
You can follow Stefan Stevenson on Twitter @StefanVersusTex.
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