Rookie pitcher Carter Baumler got the surprise of his life when his manager told him during a mound visit Monday night that he had made the Texas Rangers’ opening day roster.
The journeyman right-hander got the good news when Rangers manager Skip Schumaker appeared to be coming to the mound to take him out of his final Spring Training game.
Instead, after the 24-year-old retired the first two Royals batters in the fifth inning, Schumaker shared the good news. Rangers catcher Danny Jansen and all four infielders were also on the mound and offered their heartfelt congratulations.
The Baltimore Orioles drafted Carter Baumler in the fifth round of the 2020 MLB June Amateur Draft out of Dowling Catholic High School in West Des Moines, Iowa. He had never made it above Double-A, largely due to having Tommy John surgery, and that was just for six games in 2025. He will now begin the 2026 MLB season in the bullpen as a reliever for the Texas Rangers.
“I wasn’t expecting it. I was like, why is he coming out here? And he got on the mound and told me I made the team,” Baumler said during the game on the Rangers Sports Network. “I mean, honestly, I thought I was like getting taken out of the game. … Obviously, whenever the manager comes out, you’re usually done.”
A terrific spring earned Carter Baumler the job
In eight appearances this spring, Baumler pitched 9.1 innings. He allowed just four hits, one unearned run, struck out 10 and walked just two.
“Somebody said, ‘I wish I got a picture of you when you turned around and saw him,’” Baumler told the Rangers Sports Network. “Most of the time you see the manager come out, (it’s) like, ‘Okay, you’re out of the game.’ I turned around, I saw him, I was just caught off guard and didn’t know what was going to happen. And then he told me that, and it was just a really cool moment. I’m definitely not going to forget that.”
“You want to make it as memorable as you can,” Schumaker said after the game. “I’ll never forget when I got called up, the exact moment, the exact game, in Memphis, Tennessee. … It was just like the most amazing time.”