Home Care In Arlington, TX

Even as he prepares for the ups and downs of 162 games, MLB’s No. 5 prospect has lofty expectations for his rookie year in Texas

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Every player who gets to the big leagues has a unique path. The world knew Bryce Harper was born for MLB stardom when he graced the cover of Sports Illustrated as a 16-year-old. But that’s not the journey for most players.

Very, very few become World Series heroes before they even get 100 at-bats under their belts. But that was the case for Texas Rangers rookie phenom Evan Carter, who introduced himself to the baseball world on its biggest stage last fall. After his call-up on Sept. 9, Carter played in just 23 regular-season games before absolutely thriving in the postseason. At 21 years old, the Rangers outfielder carried a .917 OPS in the playoffs and became the youngest player since Mickey Mantle to hit third in Game 1 of the World Series, helping Texas secure the first World Series championship in franchise history.

“It's been a whirlwind,” Carter told Yahoo Sports during spring training. “Going from Double-A to Triple-A for a little bit and then getting called up, it all happened really fast. So [I’m] really blessed to have gotten to experience that.

"And then at the same time, [I’m] a little bit spoiled just to have gotten to experience the postseason and winning a World Series so quickly. There's people on the team that have been playing for 10 years and [had] never been to the playoffs.”

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‘I never really thought that I was good enough to make a living’

Before his brief stint with the Rangers prior to their postseason run, Carter flew through Texas’ minor-league system. He played in a total of 246 minor-league games after being drafted out of high school in the second round of the 2020 MLB Draft.

But the speed of Carter’s journey to the majors wasn’t nearly the most atypical part. The 2020 draft came after his senior high school season was canceled due to the COVID pandemic. There was an abbreviated draft process and no minor-league season in 2020, meaning Carter didn’t play organized baseball for more than a year.

In a normal year, it’s a major jump for a young player going from high school to pro ball. Being a high-school draft pick during COVID was an even bigger developmental challenge, made worse by the fact that games, workouts and in-person coaching were not an option.

“There was really nowhere to go, especially where I'm at — the facilities to be able to even go hit in the first place are kind of limited,” Carter said. “So when all that's off the table, what do you do? We were at home, so all the gyms were closed. We had just a couple of free weights in the basement, just doing exercises downstairs.”

Yet somehow, when minor-league ball resumed in 2021, Carter continued to thrive, hitting at every level despite being the youngest player at each stop. Only 17 when he was drafted, Carter, who was originally committed to playing at Duke out of high school, would be one of the youngest players on the Blue Devils’ 2024 roster had the Rangers not drafted him.

In fact, his development was so rapid that it came as a surprise to the player himself. Carter told Yahoo Sports that the idea of playing baseball professionally wasn’t on his radar for much of his high school career.

“I loved baseball, but I never really thought that I was good enough to make a living with it. And at the end of the day, it was for me,” he said. “[But if] I could use baseball to help pay for school, that was what was important at the time.”

His initial plan had been to major in biology at Duke.

“I really wanted to go through dental school and [be] an endodontist or an oral surgeon, somewhere in that route,” he said. “But we're a long way from that.”

[Read more: MLB 26-and-under power rankings: How high are the ceilings for the Rangers' Evan Carter and Wyatt Langford?]

‘I'm going to get punched in the mouth’

After achieving the ultimate goal of winning a World Series — before having more than a cup of coffee in the big leagues, no less — what does Carter do for an encore in his first full MLB season? It hardly seems fair that expectations are this high for someone who has played just 269 games in his pro career.

There haven’t been many lows for Carter to this point, but the Rangers rookie — who is ranked as the No. 5 prospect in baseball, according to MLB Pipeline — knows that’s not sustainable.

“I know this year is not going to be perfect the whole time,” he said. “I'm going to get punched in the mouth, and it's going to be, how quickly can I respond from that? Baseball is way too hard of a sport, way too humbling of a sport to just expect to do good all the time.”

The Rangers won the World Series last season behind many talented veterans, but also thanks to young players such as Carter who, in addition to contributing today, are the future of the franchise. Fellow rookie Wyatt Langford has also gotten plenty of attention from the baseball world, as the No. 4 pick in last year’s draft has thrived this spring and officially made the team’s Opening Day roster. As the Rangers begin their title defense, the two young outfielders could be cornerstones in Texas for a long time.

“I've really tried to get to know him off the field, get to know him as a person. Obviously, he's an incredible baseball player,” Carter said of Langford.

“It's exciting to have somebody my age [on the roster] that I get to relate to a little bit more,” he added. “Not to downgrade anybody else on the team, but it's a little bit different trying to hang out with a 35-year-old than it is with somebody my own age.”

Carter’s age belies just how much success he has had in such a short time. Yet for all his talent, the thing people throughout the Rangers organization rave about most is his maturity. And as he begins his first full season in the big leagues, that might be his most valuable attribute.

“I'm thankful that I got to spend so many years in the minors, so many seasons and games being around older players," he said. "… I learned how to fail and how to react to that and get out of it as quickly as possible. ...

“When you get drafted out of high school coming into pro ball, you have to grow up really quick."

DUNEDIN, Fla. — Isiah Kiner-Falefa knows what it feels like to be thrown in the fire at the major league level.

The natural infielder had accrued just 69 minor-league games behind the plate by 2018, yet in June of that season, the Texas Rangers were in a pinch and decided to deploy him as their catcher.

Here was a rookie who didn't even own a catcher's mitt two years prior to being tasked with receiving for established veterans such as Bartolo Colon and Yovani Gallardo.

"I didn't really have the confidence," says Kiner-Falefa. "I didn't have the experience. I didn't really have anything. I was just thrown into the fire in the big leagues."

It ended up as a teachable lesson, though, showing Kiner-Falefa, who signed with the Blue Jays this past off-season, that he could handle anything thrown at him. He realized he possessed the ability — and mental fortitude — to adapt on the fly.

At the Letters Ben Nicholson-Smith is Sportsnet’s baseball editor. Arden Zwelling is a senior writer. Together, they bring you the most in-depth Blue Jays podcast in the league, covering off all the latest news with opinion and analysis, as well as interviews with other insiders and team members.

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This time last year, Kiner-Falefa was put to the test again. He had been locked in a spring training battle with Anthony Volpe for the starting shortstop job on the New York Yankees but as camp wore on and he began to lose ground to the rookie, the Yankees decided to try Kiner-Falefa in the outfield. Never mind that he had played just 10 career games there in the minors.

"I made my first outfield start at centre field in Yankee Stadium after maybe playing two games there all spring," says Kiner-Falefa.

He took it in complete stride, however, because he had once before embraced the unknown and came out better for it.

"The catching experience alone just propelled me and helped me a lot last year," he says.

Kiner-Falefa, who’s entering his seventh MLB season, has developed a reputation as a glove-first player with a nearly unmatched level of versatility. He's manned every position in the majors except for first base — a strength that attracted the Blue Jays, who inked Kiner-Falefa to a two-year, $15-million deal in late December.

"[When] I think of IKF, I think of just a gamer — [a] baseball player," said Blue Jays manager John Schneider on Saturday. "And I just love his versatility. I love every little thing that he [does]. Every little detail of the game he doesn't miss. That's the thing that stands out to me, whether it's noticing a player's secondary lead or where someone is in the outfield. He's got every box checked."

Kiner-Falefa is expected to at least begin the season getting a chunk of time at third base, where he netted a Gold Glove during the 2020 campaign. He'll replace Matt Chapman — who joined the San Francisco Giants as a free agent — there and says the comfort of knowing where he'll be stationed, for the most part, has been nice for him as he's worked through spring training.

"I still don't really know my clear role, but I know it's going to be a lot of third. But, at the same time, other things happen. I could be the guy moving around," says Kiner-Falefa, who turned 29 on Saturday.

"But just getting the reps wherever need be during that full month [of spring training] is a lot different than having to just throw it together in a week. So, it's very refreshing and I feel good."

Kiner-Falefa, a Honolulu, Hawaii, native, is an easy-going, approachable veteran with a pleasant demeanour that made him a media favourite in New York. He joined the Yankees in the March 2022 deal with Minnesota that also brought Josh Donaldson to the club. Kiner-Falefa hit .253/.311/.333 over his two seasons with the Yankees, producing a combined 1.7 fWAR.

While his time there included him losing his shortstop job, Kiner-Falefa says he was able to take away a great deal playing under the spotlight with the Yankees.

“I knew it wasn't going to be easy,” he says. “But, it just made me tougher —my whole experience in New York. The first year to the second year and how I bounced back. It was a tough transition at first, but it ended up being very beneficial for my career as in just being able to cancel the noise and stay true to who I am and not worry about the outside.”

Kiner-Falefa’s level of comfort this spring has been evident, with Schneider highlighting Kiner-Falefa's sneaky-good offensive performance during Grapefruit League play. He owns a .958 OPS across 17 games and clubbed his first home run — a 412-foot bomb — on Friday.

"I think his at-bats have been quietly really good," said the manager. "He's had a great camp ... just excited how he fits on our team."

Kiner-Falefa says one of his goals for the season is to simply offer consistency on both offence and defence — wherever that is.

"I'm ready for everything," he said. "The experience of being thrown in the fire gives me the confidence of just being ready for whatever."

SURPRISE, Ariz. -- Better late than never, it seems, for the Rangers this spring.

In the Rangers 1-1 tie with the Royals in the Cactus League finale on Saturday, Corey Seager played shortstop and Josh Jung played third base in their spring debuts.

Seager underwent surgery to repair a sports hernia in January, and has been slowly rehabbing since, and Jung experienced discomfort while taking ground balls before the full squad reported to camp, with an MRI revealing a low-grade calf strain.

The Rangers have been “cautiously optimistic” for about two weeks that both All-Star infielders would be ready for Opening Day, and this is just the next step toward that.

“This is good news,” manager Bruce Bochy said. “The timing is good as we approach Opening Day.”

“We’ll just get them a couple of at-bats hopefully and, you know, get some innings under their belt,” Bochy said. “You can take all the ground balls and all the live hitting you want, but it's a little bit different to be in a game, so this is a good timing to get them in the game. This gives us a chance to stretch them out.”

The two infielders played three innings each, with Seager going 2-for-2 with two singles and Jung going 1-for-2 with a single.

“I feel good,” Seager said. “I'm not in any pain, no limitations. Just trying to build up. It was my first time playing defense, so I’ll see how I respond tomorrow and kind of go from there.”

The plan is for both to play the two exhibition games in Arlington against the Red Sox prior to Opening Day on March 25-26.

“Now, they’re day to day, with that said,” Bochy said. “We may have to adjust and DH one of them. We do have a day game after a night game, so obviously there will be some kind of adjustment or maybe they won’t play the day night.”

It’s been a slow ramp-up for both throughout the spring, though Seager and Jung have been facing live pitching and taking ground balls for the majority of the last week and a half of camp. Jung noted that he hit a triple against Royals Minor Leaguers on the back fields earlier this week.

“Yeah, I didn’t pull up,” he said.

Jung hit .266/.315/.467 with 23 homers in his first full big league season in 2023, but again landed on the injured list for six weeks with a fractured left thumb. Though he made the All-Star team as a rookie, he believes he can be even better in ‘24.

“I'm very confident in Thursday [Opening Day],” Jung said after Saturday’s game. “Today was just a step to get out on the dirt before we take off. It was awesome. It was good to get in an A game today.”

Seager, who finished as the runner-up in AL MVP Award voting last season, has been slightly behind Jung in his progressions, but that doesn’t seem to matter for a guy like him.

The reigning World Series MVP went on the injured list twice in 2023, sidelined by a left hamstring strain and a right thumb sprain. He only played in three games with Double-A Frisco on a rehab assignment after the hamstring strain, and did not even require one after the thumb sprain.

Though Bochy noted that returning after a full offseason of no work and returning midseason is different, anything seems to be possible with Seager.

“We have this history with Corey,” Bochy said. “Go back to the first time when he hurt his hamstring, he was out five or six weeks. We thought we would have to rehab him and give him a few games. He took a few swings off live pitching and hit one out.

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“He said ‘I'm ready.’ He convinced us that he was good to go and he played great. Then the next time he hurt himself, it was the same thing. He was pretty sore, I think, at times down the stretch [in the regular season]. But he wouldn't take a day to die. The mental toughness that he has is pretty impressive.”

Yahoo Sports national MLB insider Russell Dorsey sits down with Rangers rookie outfielder Evan Carter at Spring Training in Arizona to discuss his development during COVID-19, his whirlwind call up and winning the World Series with the Texas Rangers.

RUSSELL DORSEY: I'm here with Texas Rangers', technically, rookie outfielder Evan Carter. Evan, I appreciate you joining me. Before we get into a lot of different things, I just kind of want to ask you about the last 12 months, and what that's been like for you. Obviously, a year ago you're preparing for Double-A. You get to the big league level at 20 years old. And then you become the youngest player since Mickey Mantle to hit third in the World Series. What does this last 12 months been like for you?

EVAN CARTER: Yeah, it's been a whirlwind, just like what you said. Going from Double-A to Triple-A for a little bit, and then getting called up, it all happened really fast. So really blessed to be able to have gotten to experience that and then at the same time a little bit spoiled, just to have gotten to experience the postseason and winning a World Series so quickly, I guess, in my career. I mean, there was people on the team that had been playing for 10 years and never been to the playoffs. It was crazy. But it was a ton of fun.

RUSSELL DORSEY: There's tons of ebbs and flows that happen throughout the course of a season. And obviously, you haven't played a full season in the big leagues yet. But from your experience, coming up through the minor leagues really quickly, have you been able to handle those ebbs and flows that are going to come?

EVAN CARTER: Yeah, you know, baseball is really hard. So I'm thankful that I got to spend so many years in the minors, so many seasons and games being around older players. It's just one of those things. I learned how to fail and how to react to that and get out of it as quick as possible. So I think that that's a really valuable skill to have because I know this year is not going to be just perfect the whole time.

I'm going to get punched in the mouth. And it's going to be, how quickly can I respond from that? Baseball is way too hard of a sport, way too humbling of a sport, to just expect to do good all the time. So figuring out how to respond to playing bad and getting out of that as quickly as possible. I'm really excited for that.

RUSSELL DORSEY: You've had an interesting development journey. To rewind a little bit, you got drafted during COVID. Your senior season got cut short. You were 17 when you got drafted actually. So you've always been one of the younger guys at each level, continuing that in the big leagues. For you, going through that at a time where, I think, it was a year between the time you played games, how were you able to continue to develop your game in a time that was so wild not only for the world, but especially as a baseball player?

EVAN CARTER: I mean, it was-- gosh. We were at home. So all the gyms were closed. We had just a couple of free weights in the basement, just doing exercises downstairs, a net and a tee. I mean, there wasn't really nowhere to go. Especially where I'm at, the facilities to be able to even go hit in the first place are kind of limited.

So when all that's off the table, what do you do? It was a tough time. And it was for everybody, not just for me. So it was kind of we-got-through-it-type deal. And everything worked out the way it was supposed to.

RUSSELL DORSEY: Do you feel like because of that, you've had to expedite your development? Whether that's as a player, whether that's your body, and kind of get yourself like, OK, I should have been here. But we couldn't do that because of COVID. And now that you're at the big league level to say, OK, I'm going to maybe work on this, that I wasn't able to do over the last couple of years to get myself prepared.

EVAN CARTER: Yeah, I was really thankful, especially when I got to the instructional league camp. I guess they had an extended one that year where we didn't get to play a season. Carlos Cardoza has been my manager-- gosh-- Low-A, High, Double-A. We come up together. So he's been unbelievable as far as just for me learning baseball more.

I feel like there's just been so many people in my corner that have helped me, I guess, if you're talking about expediting the learning process of, hey, you got to learn how to play the game. You can be athletic. But if you don't know baseball, it doesn't really translate all the time. So I've been really thankful to have those people in my corner.

And then now, too, being around older players that have been there and done that and a lot of really good hitters that I get to learn from and watch, and the Corey Seager, Marcus Semien, all these people that-- he's won the MVP of the World Series. He's one of the best players on the planet. And getting to watch what his routine looks like and how they prepare every day, it's been great.

Dog of the Week – Meet Triss

This just over four years old female Alaskan Husky mix is black and white in color and weighs 51 pounds. Having been a resident in the shelter at just over 3 weeks, Triss is "hopping" (hoping) that the Easter bunny will hop this way and find a family to adopt her. We know that isn't exactly how the bunny works but since hiding eggs are a small part of the bunny's tasks and giving gifts is a larger part, our canine friend is "hopping" (hoping) to be considered for the second part. Triss is eager to show off her leash skills and playing with toys, and her biggest skill of all, her ability to love. VIP status has been achieved by this canine, so her adoption fee is only $5 until the Easter bunny arrives (last weekend in March). Meet Triss at Dog Adoptions (DA) 25, her ID number is A55450645.

Second Dog of the Week – Meet Princess

This four years, one-month old female German Shepherd mix is tan, white and black in color and weighs 50 pounds. Our second canine has been in the shelter since mid-February, so she is in much need of finding a family of her own. Since she has been looking for a family longer than our other chosen dog might qualify her as our favorite pet (at least this week). Being the princess she is, she can certainly give the royal treatment by lavishing love and kindness. Yet there are times that she loves to shirk her "royal" duties and just be a dog. Princess would make a great addition to any family to share in family walks and explorations. We would love for her highness to find her "down to earth" Texas home in time for Easter. Princess has tested positive for heartworms so a new adopter will need to follow up with heartworm treatment allowing her to "reign" in the best of health. She has received VIP status, so her adoption fee is reduced. Also, this is the last week of the egg extravaganza where you get to pick an egg to determine the adoption fee for your new furry companion. Meet Princess at Dog Adoptions (DA) 12, her ID number is A55279743.

Adoption fees include all core vaccinations, alteration and microchip.