X-rays negative, Evan Carter day to day after HBP

SURPRISE, Ariz. -- Rangers rookie sensation Evan Carter left his Cactus League matchup with the Giants in the first inning on Sunday afternoon after getting hit by a pitch in his left hand/wrist area.

MLB Pipeline’s No. 5 overall prospect, Carter initially took his base before chatting with first-base coach Corey Ragsdale and trainer Matt Lucero. He left the game shortly after manager Bruce Bochy joined the conversation.

During the game, the Rangers gave an update and said that his X-rays were negative, and he is considered to be day to day.

“That caught him pretty good,” said Bochy about Carter after Sunday's 0-0 tie game. “It had some velocity that hit him. He's fine. We had the X-rays right away. In five minutes, I knew he was all right. That’s the quickest X-ray I’ve ever seen.”

Carter said on Monday morning that he was more angry than genuinely worried that he was seriously injured after being hit.

“I was just pissed, just really mad just because I've gotten hit there before and it just makes you upset,” he said. “Then I got to first and looked at it and it was swelled up like a golf ball, so they ended up taking me out. I was just mad because it happened, I guess. I wasn't worried or anything, I knew it was fine. … He’s not up there trying to hit me, but I was just mad in the moment.”

Carter missed about three weeks -- from June 2-21 -- with Double-A Frisco in 2023 due to a similar hand injury he suffered after being hit by a pitch in May. At the time, he said the injury affected him more than he realized then and he should have shut it down sooner.

After getting called up on Sept. 8, Carter hit .306 with a 1.058 OPS in 23 regular-season games. He then appeared in every game of the Rangers’ World Series run, hitting .300 with a .917 OPS in the postseason and was expected to enter the season as the club’s starting left fielder.

Carter was considered day to day and did not play in the Rangers’ 4-2 win over the White Sox on Monday, but he did participate in a backfields intrasquad game, where he homered off of Jon Gray.

“I couldn’t believe it,” Bochy said of Carter’s quick recovery. “He wasn’t sore, and he wanted to swing the bat.”