Rangers place Nathan Eovaldi and Wyatt Langford back on the injured list; Evan Carter is out.
Darragh McDonald wrote this on May 28, 2024 at 6:12 p.m. CDT.
Nathan Eovaldi, a right-hander, and Wyatt Langford, an outfielder, have been added back to the Rangers’ active roster. Eovaldi will start tonight’s game. Evan Carter, an outfielder, has been placed on the 10-day injured list due to back strain, while righty Yerry Rodríguez has been optioned out. One of the people who broke the story before it was officially announced on X was Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning story (links one and two).
Carter has been experiencing back pain for a few weeks now. He only had two plate appearances with the Rangers between May 8 and May 18. Although he has been in the lineup more frequently lately, it has been almost three weeks since he last got a hit. It appears that his back issues have played a part in his unimpressive performance this year. Up until May 4, he was hitting.236/.328/.472, but after that, his batting line was just.053/.100/.053.
It seemed conceivable going into the season that Texas might have a competition between two regular players for Rookie of the Year, but so far that hasn’t materialized. Carter’s hitting line for the season is now.188/.272/361 due to his recent decline. In contrast, Langford saw just 129 plate appearances and hit just.224/.295/.293 before being placed on the injured list with a right hamstring injury. Now that Carter is taking some time off to recover and get fit for the final part of the season, Langford will have an opportunity to raise his stats.
All year long, injuries have also been a major plot point for the Texas rotation. Given that Tyler Mahle and Jacob deGrom both had Tommy John surgery in the midst of the previous season, they were well aware that they would miss the first part of the season. Then, in the offseason, Max Scherzer needed back surgery. It looked like he may return in the middle of May, but thumb pain has caused him to miss his scheduled return date.
The Rangers have also lost Eovaldi, Jon Gray, Dane Dunning, Michael Lorenzen, and Cody Bradford to injury since the season began. Andrew Heaney is now the sole reliable player in the rotation this year as a result of everything.
Now that some of those periods on the IL have gone—Eovaldi’s ended today, for example—he, Heaney, Dunning, Lorenzen, and José Ureña make up the rotation. Gerson Garabito appeared to be able to stay on as a long reliever for the time being after the team employed him for a spot start on Sunday.
The reigning champs are presently 25-29 on the season, suggesting that the numerous ailments throughout the team have kept them from winning early this year. However, given that the Astros are also having trouble, the American League West is unexpectedly weak thus far this season. The Rangers are still very much in the race, sitting only 3.5 games behind the Mariners in second place.
Eovaldi had a 2.61 ERA before going on the IL with a groin injury, and he had a 3.63 ERA for the Rangers the previous season, so getting him back on the mound is certainly beneficial. Adolis García has been playing in the designated hitter role lately; Langford might take over, moving García back to the outfield next to Leody Taveras and a group that includes Ezequiel Durán, Robbie Grossman, Derek Hill, and presumably Carter again when he returns to health.
