Rangers' plan for young outfielder focuses on testing him against his weakness

It's no secret that Evan Carter has already provided what the Texas Rangers were hoping he would based off his 2023 performance alone but a lot of hurdles remain to get him to where the organization wants him to be.

Outside of remaining healthy, which he's dealt with over the past two seasons, they want to see him became an all-around, little to no weakness player. That means finding a way to help improve his approach and productivity against left-handed pitching.

Carter will get opportunities to improve against lefties in 2026

Over the course of the first 131 games of his big league career, Carter's opportunities against lefties has not been addressed.

When he broke into the league in September 2023, the outfielder only tallied 11 plate appearanes against left-handed pitchers. In that sample size he didn't record a single hit, drew just one walk and struck out six times. In 2024, just 29 plate appearances for a .111 average and last season 28 with a .087 average.

Yes, those numbers are pretty terrible but for his career that is just 68 PAs against left-handed pitching. How do the Rangers expect him to get better or at least him if he's not exposed more to his weakness?

That's the plan of manager Skip Schumaker. Essentially having the 23-year-old face his fears head on by giving him expanded chances next year. Schumaker addressed this last month of Foul Territory saying, "If we get him just to be ok against lefties and still be really good against righties, you have an All-Star player."

He echoed that same sentiment at the Winter Meetings earlier this week but went a little further into detail, hinting that he will get ABs against LHP but not all of them. He will have to earn the chance to get the every day reps.

Carter also receiving trade interest from other organizations

In another shocking development, Carter is also reportedly receiving calls and "check-ins" from other teams across the league. Now Texas isn't ready to move on from him but he has been among the name mentioned the most when clubs checked in, according to Dallas Morning News reporter Evan Grant.

There was no detailed information like who those teams could be but his name has been floated around before like last month when Chris Rose floated the idea of Texas trading Carter to the Mets for Mark Vientos.

The Rangers did recently make the Marcus Semien-Brandon Nimmo deal with David Stearns so there is very recent history between the two. But with Pete Alonso moving on to Baltimore, the Mets will likely set their sights on Cody Bellinger or another first baseman.