Rangers Place Evan Carter On 10-Day IL With Oblique Strain

Rangers outfielder Evan Carter is heading to the 10-day injured list with a right oblique strain, the team announced. The Rangers recalled infielder/outfielder Cody Freeman from Triple-A Round Rock to take Carter’s roster spot.

Injuries have been an all-too-frequent occurrence during a frustrating career for Carter, who left a loss to the Red Sox on Friday with what was described as soreness. He will now hit the IL for the fifth time since he debuted in September 2023. The 23-year-old appeared in just 108 of a possible 324 regular-season games from 2024-25. Carter had been much healthier this year until this injury cropped up, as he played in 66 of the Rangers’ first 69 games. The severity of his latest malady is unclear, but oblique problems often lead to lengthy absences.

The lefty-swinging Carter looked like a future star when the Rangers promoted him to the majors in September 2023. He slashed .306/.413/.645 over a 23-game, 75-plate appearance span to close out the regular season. Carter followed that up by hitting .300/.417/.500 in 72 trips to the plate during a playoff run that concluded with the Rangers’ World Series victory over the Diamondbacks.

Carter was riding plenty of momentum going into 2024, but lower back troubles held him to 45 games and kept him out from late May onward. He hit a meek .188/.272/.361 with five home runs in 162 plate appearances that year. Carter’s performance improved in 2025, in which he batted .247/.336/.392 with five HRs and 14 stolen bases, but quadriceps, back and wrist troubles limited him to 63 games and 220 PA.

While Carter has been the Rangers’ primary center fielder this year, his offense has backslid. He is going on the shelf with a .176/.292/.321 line, six homers and 10 steals in 229 trips to the plate. Carter’s .209 batting average on balls in play suggests he has been unlucky, but his xBA, xSLG and xwOBA all rank in the league’s bottom 19th percentile or worse. Lefties have been especially hard on Carter, who has gone a miserable 1 for 27 with a single, 11 strikeouts and three walks against them.

Michael Helman, the Rangers’ second option in center this year, will start there on Saturday against the Red Sox. He could get most of the work at the position while Carter is out. Corner outfielders Wyatt Langford and Brandon Nimmo also have experience in center, though the latter hasn’t seen much action there since 2023.

Photo courtesy of Jerome Miron, Imagn Images