{"id":78616,"date":"2025-06-04T12:09:19","date_gmt":"2025-06-04T12:09:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/78616\/"},"modified":"2025-06-04T12:09:19","modified_gmt":"2025-06-04T12:09:19","slug":"with-evan-carter-back-in-texas-rangers-lineup-whats-the-plan-for-crowded-outfield","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/78616\/","title":{"rendered":"With Evan Carter back in Texas Rangers\u2019 lineup, what\u2019s the plan for crowded outfield?"},"content":{"rendered":"

TAMPA \u2014 With Evan Carter officially back on the Texas Rangers<\/a> active roster, manager Bruce Bochy is hoping to develop a rotation for how he uses a suddenly deep group of outfielders. <\/p>\n

Carter, out since May 16<\/a> with a Grade 2 strain of his right quadriceps, was the starting center fielder against Tampa Bay on Tuesday. But the Rangers want to be mindful of his health, considering his chronic back issue and the recent quad strain. <\/p>\n

The Rangers did not have to make a reciprocal move to the roster because they played a man short on Sunday after designating catcher Tucker Barnhart for assignment<\/a>. Barnhart on Tuesday took free agency after refusing an outright assignment.<\/p>\n

There is an easy enough way to manage Carter by resting him when the Rangers face lefties. The left-handed hitter is just 4 for 42 (.095) in his career against lefties, and, on average, the Rangers face about one lefty per week. They are next scheduled to face a lefty on Saturday at Washington.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe\u2019ve got to keep a watchful eye,\u201d Bochy said. \u201cMaybe three games, then give him a break. Of course, left handers will play a part. He\u2019ll get his rest then, for the most part, but not all the time. I\u2019m not going to run him out there for a lot of games in a row, because we need to make sure we keep him healthy.\u201d <\/p>\n

While it\u2019s easier to find ways to rest Carter, it becomes more complicated for others. With Carter in the lineup, Wyatt Langford, who started the last seven games in center, moved back to left field. Bochy said that when Carter sits, Langford will likely slide back to center, which puts a premium on his outfield versatility. And it meant Alejandro Osuna moved from left to right on Tuesday. <\/p>\n

When Carter sits, the easy sub for him would be switch-hitting Sam Haggerty, who had started 12 of the previous 14 games. Haggerty has an .804 OPS for his career against lefties, and his speed gives him some similar weapons to Carter. <\/p>\n

At the moment, it remains a task to find regular playing time for Adolis Garc\u00eda, who did not start for his fourth consecutive game. He did, however, enter as a pinch hitter for Osuna in the seventh against a left-hander and proceeded to line a single to right field. He also made the last out of the game with a hard hit ball to the right side on which Jonathan Aranda made a nice scoop. <\/p>\n

Bochy said after the game that Garc\u00eda would start in right field on Wednesday. <\/p>\n

Related:Chris Young explains why Texas Rangers benched Adolis Garc\u00eda and what\u2019s next for him<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s working hard and doing what we are asking him to do,\u201d Bochy said. \u201cHe\u2019s been a good soldier there. And I need to get him in the mix too. Adolis is a big part of this club. Sometimes, you\u2019ve got to give a guy a break, maybe because his production had fallen off. I think it\u2019s fair to say we\u2019ve got to get him back to being who he is. We\u2019ve talked to him, and as soon as we think he\u2019s ready, he\u2019ll be out there.\u201d <\/p>\n

With both Carter and Osuna being left-handed hitters, it\u2019s reasonable to think Garc\u00eda, a right-handed hitter, could have an easy role at least against lefties, but he\u2019s struggled even worse against lefties than right-handers this year. That\u2019s why the seventh-inning single against lefty Garrett Cleavinger had additional significance. Garc\u00eda entered the game batt .149 batting average and .337 OPS in 48 plate appearances against lefties. Osuna, meanwhile, began the week having reached in 10 of his first 21 MLB plate appearances and at least once in each of his six starts. Osuna was 0 for 2 Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Find more Rangers coverage from The Dallas Morning News here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TAMPA \u2014 With Evan Carter officially back on the Texas Rangers active roster, manager Bruce Bochy is hoping…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":78617,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2393],"tags":[3418,5,3417,3321,2266,4,149,185,1567,69,3240,385],"class_list":{"0":"post-78616","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-texas-rangers","8":"tag-adolis-garcia","9":"tag-baseball","10":"tag-brief","11":"tag-bruce-bochy","12":"tag-evan-carter","13":"tag-mlb","14":"tag-rangers","15":"tag-sports","16":"tag-texas","17":"tag-texas-rangers","18":"tag-texasrangers","19":"tag-wyatt-langford"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/114625024112654819","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78616","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78616"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78616\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/78617"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78616"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78616"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78616"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}