Will the real Evan Carter please stand up?

The Texas Rangers have loaded up their pitching rotation. They'll be able to get outs in 2026.

But will their batting lineup be up to par? Evan Carter will have a big say about that.

Carter is one of the most fascinating hitters in baseball. He was a postseason hero when the Texas Rangers won the 2023 World Series. Since then, his journey has been a bit more frustrating.

Injuries have set him back, and even on the field, he's shown flashes of his immense talent without ever fully putting it together for long stretches.

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The Rangers are certainly hoping this season is different.

"Carter blurs the line between a few of these categories, but we’ll stick him in the bounce-back candidates group, mostly because he fared well enough last year when healthy, posting a 114 OPS+ in 63 games," MLB.com's Jared Greenspan wrote in a new article on Saturday. "He just hasn’t been able to stay on the field, taking four trips to the IL across the last two years. We’ve been waiting for the former postseason hero to have a legitimate breakout season. Maybe this will be it. The Rangers sure need his bat in the lineup, and he’s projected to be their everyday center fielder."

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Between Carter and Wyatt Langford in the outfield, the Rangers have two young players with immense physical tools. If they can both put everything together, Texas can have a much higher ceiling than most people think.

It's just a bigger if than they would like.

Carter can't stay on the field, and that's not something that's always an easy fix. And when you get beat up that much, it also impacts performance even when playing, because the body heals at different rates for different injuries and can hold you back even while conceptually healthy.

The Rangers need Carter out there on the field, and they need him to be his best self. If he can really do that, Texas could be a strong contender.

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