Texas Rangers name Evan Carter as team’s starting center fielder, kind of

ARLINGTON — The Rangers have made their decision on center field.

Kinda.

Sorta.

Though Wyatt Langford was in center for Monday’s exhibition, president of baseball operations Chris Young said the team views Evan Carter “primarily as our everyday center fielder.”

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But, he added, there will be times against left-handed pitching that the Rangers will move Langford to center to get a favorable matchup.

And two of the first three games this weekend at Philadelphia will come against left-handed starters, which means the primary center fielder might not be in center for opening day. Philadelphia is expected to start lefty Christopher Sanchez on opening day, right-hander Aaron Nola in the second game and lefty Jesus Luzardo on Sunday.

Oh, and it’s not a platoon, either.

Got it?

Yeah, us neither.

It sounds very much like the center field situation, a matter of internal debate all winter over the best deployment of Langford and Carter, will remain a fluid situation for the time being.

And none of this takes into account two issues that have dogged Carter the last two seasons: Injuries and ineffectiveness against lefties. If either of those crop up again, the discussion may have to be renewed.

“I think Evan is a tremendous center fielder, defensively and can really run it down,” Young said. “It keeps Brandon [Nimmo] and Wyatt in the corners, and really, we feel like we’ve got the best outfield coverage with that setup. That said, when Wyatt slides over and we have one of [Ezequiel] Duran or [Sam] Haggerty in a corner, we don’t feel like the drop off is that far, but, Evan is a very, very good center fielder.”

Said manager Skip Schumaker: Evan, obviously, is an elite defender, and then we’ll see what happens. As far as how much is it in everyday role? Is it mostly every day; even at times that he doesn’t start, he’s going to come into games? I just hope that for the first time in his career, that he’s going to be in there for 150 games plus games played. That’s really the goal. But I think as far as just watching it with both of them out there at the same time, I think that there’s value in having the elite left fielder and the elite center fielder that they’re comfortable in those positions. And this is really a big outfield so it’s probably the most attractive positioning right now.“

The bottom line is Carter is most comfortable in center field; Langford is comfortable in either place. Defensive metrics are largely incomplete in center on the two given that neither has 60 career starts in center. Though for the short amount of time there, Langford has a slight edge in defensive runs saved.

Twitter/X: @Evan_P_Grant

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