2024 Spring Training Preview: The Texas Rangers outfield

3 of 4

2023 in Review- Evan Carter

Next up for the Rangers outfielders: Evan Carter. His 2024 season will be highly anticipated and he is one of the early front runners for Rookie of the Year. Carter's minor league success translated immediately to the big leagues when he was called up in September. He batted .306 with an OPS over 1.000 in the 22 games he played for the big club in the 2023 regular season.

That early success carried into the postseason as well as he set the single postseason record for doubles with nine and reached base safely in his first 17 postseason games. He also showed his talent in the field. His crucial catch against the Astros that turned a deep drive from Alex Bregman into a double play showcased that Carter has as much to offer in the field as he does at the plate. Carter was phenomenal last season and Rangers fans should be very excited for his 2024 campaign.

Evan Carter was at Double-A just over two months ago.

Now he has the MLB single-postseason record with his 9th double. The @Rangers rookie has reached base in all 17 #Postseason games. pic.twitter.com/jGJoLmwZ8N
— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) November 2, 2023

What can Evan Carter improve upon in 2024?

The one area Evan Carter needs to improve on is hitting lefties. Even with how incredible his production was from the time he was called up, his struggles against lefties were great enough that Bruce Bochy opted to sit him when there was a lefty starter at times. His splits are drastically different against righties and lefties and he needs to close that gap. Like Taveras, I would also like to see his speed utilized more. This doesn't fall on him like it doesn't fall on Taveras though. I would like to see Bruce Bochy and his staff be more aggressive on the base paths, especially when they have two guys with as much speed as Taveras and Carter.