Rangers rookie sensation Evan Carter's whirlwind month rolls into ALDS: 'Incredibly cool'

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BALTIMORE – If Evan Carter’s life was a treadmill, an unseen force would be increasing the speed, testing all that he could handle in a short amount of time, the pace quickening and challenging him to keep his feet on the ground.

An unknown baseball prospect, suddenly drafted 50^th overall by the Texas Rangers and made a millionaire in 2020. High school graduation in a pandemic. A steady but aggressive rise through the minor leagues.

A December wedding to his childhood sweetheart. A major league debut, at 21 years old, in September. A seizure of a lineup spot.

And then, suddenly, a starring role in the Texas Rangers’ first playoff series victory since 2011.

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With the 90-win Rangers relegated to the American League wild-card series at Tampa Bay, coming off a disappointing road trip that saw them fritter away the AL West, Carter helped steady the waters. His two-run home run in the fourth inning of Game 2 gave Texas a 4-0 lead and essentially a ticket to Camden Yards, where they’ll begin the AL Division Series on Saturday.

Take a picture of Carter’s two-game epostseason line, because it may not get more perfect: Three extra-base hits and three walks in eight plate appearances, an .875 on-base percentage.

Now, the Orioles, and the latest showcase for baseball’s unstoppable youth movement. Baltimore’s best player is 22-year-old shortstop Gunnar Henderson. Its heart and soul is second-year catcher Adley Rutschman. Its burgeoning ace is 23-year-old Grayson Rodriguez.

Yet none have experienced a whirlwind like Carter’s: A Sept. 8 debut, followed by a starting stretch run in which he batted .307 with a .413 OBP and 1.059 OPS, along with the sterling defense that established him as a top prospect.

It is a lot for the kid from Elizabethton, Tennessee. Then again, who’s to say what he can’t handle?

“My gosh, it’s been almost a month since I’ve been up here now,” Carter said Friday at Camden Yards, “and it seems like it’s flown by. You haven’t really had time to sit back and realize where you’re at. We’re making a playoff push. Now we’re in the playoffs. Now we’re trying to win a World Series.

“Gosh, it’s one important series after another, it seems like. It’s been fun.”

Let it be known that this is not a typical welcome-to-the-big-leagues arc – and it might not have peaked.

Carter's ascent has not stopped; he batted ninth in the wild-card series and will bat fifth in the Game 1 lineup; manager Bruce Bochy intimated Friday that Carter might eventually force his way into filling the elusive No. 3 role behind All-Star slugging infielders Marcus Semien and Corey Seager. Semien might miss him in the nine hole, simply because he’s been such a great set-up man.

And Carter’s still so new that he can even make other rookies feel longer in the tooth.

“It’s remarkable to see what he’s done, truly,” says Rangers All-Star third baseman Josh Jung, 25, who along with the Orioles’ Henderson should sit atop AL Rookie of the Year ballots. “In a short amount of time, he’s had a huge impact on our club.

“His career literally just started. You can’t wait to really see what he does and what he grows into. Especially to play alongside him, because I’ll hopefully be here a little bit. In the clubhouse, he’s super mature for a 21-year-old kid.

“He listens. He learns. He interacts with everybody. He’s everything you want in a kid coming up.”

He certainly fits right into this postseason.

'They're riding with you'

The notion of a top prospect tossed into the fire is nothing new. Heck, Seager himself debuted as a rookie in 2015 and was starting for the Los Angeles Dodgers that postseason. Yet these Rangers and Orioles continue tossing youngsters into the fire with fantastic results, certainly a credit to their scouting and player development apparatuses.

Rutschman was the easy one, selected first overall in the 2019 draft. His May 2022 debut marked a turning point for the franchise, and his youthful mien quickly made him the face of the franchise.

Now, Rutschman’s not so young.

Not after Henderson debuted at 21 later that year. Or Rodriguez arrived as a 22-year-old earlier this year. And why not toss Jordan Westburg, 24, into the fire at second base?

“To see guys go through multiple years of development and experience together,” says Rutschman, “to see them end up at this spot, kind of achieving their dream and their goals is really cool. You feel invested in the process and their journey.

“And to see their character and they're such good guys, you want to see them succeed.”

They have found such immediate success – Henderson posted an .814 OPS and 6.3 WAR in his rookie year – that the group has almost certainly not encountered their most significant failures yet.

But Jung says organizations’ willingness to let the prospects bump their head makes all the difference in development.

“Teams are putting them out there regardless of whether they’re a success or not,” says Jung, who hit 23 home runs despite missing seven weeks with a broken thumb. “They’re just riding with ‘em. Because you’re going to go through it in your career. You’re going to dip down.

“But the confidence organizations are showing in young players regardless of if you’re 0 for 50 or hitting 1.000, they’re riding with you. And I think that instills all the confidence in us to play every game.”

It’s safe to say the Rangers’ belief in Carter has always exceeded their colleagues.

Evan Carter's rapid rise

Carter had been in contact with the Rangers before the 2020 draft and the club might have very well benefited from the COVID-19 pandemic cancelling most of Carter’s senior season at Elizabethton High School.

But the Rangers were on him, and Carter hadn’t received the exposure the so-called showcase ponies did the previous summer.

The response from draftniks when the Rangers spent their 50^th pick on him: Evan who?

So be it.

“You can’t blame ‘em. I didn’t do any of the camps and all the showcases that they get their information from,” says Carter. “So if I’m not at those and that’s where they get their information, how are they really supposed to know who you are?

“You get drafted, biggest day of your baseball career up to that point and it’s like, ‘Who is this?’ It is what it is.”

His rapid rise through the Rangers’ organization was plenty of consolation. In 2022, Carter dominated high-A ball, producing an .885 OPS as a 19-year-old, and finished the year at Class AA Frisco. He doubled down on that this year, logging an .863 OPS between AA and AAA and stealing 26 bases a second consecutive year.

Carter did not expect a call from the Rangers. But up he went in September.

“What I've learned from him is he's very calm in the big moment, and that's very rare,” says Semien. “I remember when I was his age, still in the minor leagues, I was still trying to figure things out.”

Carter seems to have it all wired, though he acknowledges the help along the way. From his parents, for getting him in the game. His high school coach, Ryan Presnell. Rangers minor league manager Carlos Cardoza, who Carter played for in Class A, AA and AAA ball.

And then there’s Kaylen Shell, who’s been at Carter’s side since middle school.

“My wife has been here supporting me the whole way,” he says. “It’s not a one-man show.”

It’s been quite the week, going from Seattle to Tampa Bay and then Baltimore in barely five days, though Carter still doesn’t take for granted that there’s “no more eight-hour bus rides from Frisco to Corpus,” evoking a well-traveled route in the Texas League.

No, Carter flew charter to Baltimore and Saturday, he’ll trot out to the baseline at Camden Yards, and dig in against Kyle Bradish, and somehow, keep slowing it all down.

“Just trying to treat it like it’s just another game of ball, having fun,” he says. “That’s how I play best. I’m not going to downplay the magnitude of where we’re at.  I know we’re – gosh, in the Division Series right now. This is awesome. This is incredibly cool for the team.

“At the same time, I know I play best when I just try and relax and say it’s another game.”