Concerning Evan Carter lineup trend shows Rangers don't trust him in these situations

Expectations for Texas Rangers rookie Evan Carter were sky high coming into the 2024 season. Carter quickly established himself as one of the best hitting prospects in all of baseball after the Rangers drafted him back in 2020. However, Carter somehow managed to surpass those expectations when he was called up late in 2023 and slashed .306/.413/.645 in his 23 regular season games, then was key during the team's postseason run. Looking at the 2024 Rookie of the Year favorites coming into the season, Carter's name was at or near the top of the list.

However, Carter hasn't been close to being that guy this season. Through 150 plate appearances in 2024, Carter is slashing just .205/.293/.394 with five homers. More concerning than his slow start overall, though, is that his struggles against lefties have caused Texas to all but abandon using him at all against southpaws. That has created a larger problem for the Rangers.

Rangers lack of trust in Evan Carter against lefties has torpedoed his playing time

One can understand the Rangers' position here. They are desperately trying to get their offense going right now, and with Carter struggling like he is, they probably do think that sitting him against lefties gives the team their best chance to get some desperately needed wins.

The problem, though, is that Carter has now sat six straight times against lefties, and that has meant that he hasn't gotten a ton of playing time at all to get things going again. Yes, he has been bad, but Carter still needs to play a big role on this Rangers team going forward if they are going to create a sustainable winning team, and he is doing a lot of rotting on the bench at the moment.

Right now, Texas refuses to call him a platoon player and insists that he will see time against lefties. However, if his struggles are so bad that Texas is treating him this way, one wonders if they could do the unthinkable and send him down to the minors to get regular at-bats and actually figure out how to perform against lefties instead of hiding the actual problem and hurting his development long-term.

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