Rangers’ Carter Baumler learns he made opening day roster during game

Usually, if a manager is coming out to visit a pitcher in the middle of his outing, it’s to deliver some kind of bad news.

Fortunately, for Carter Baumler on Monday night, Texas Rangers manager Skip Schumaker had something worth talking about.

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Pitcher Carter Baumler #68 of the Texas Rangers throws during the sixth inning of a World Baseball Classic exhibition game against Team Brazil at Surprise Stadium on March 4, 2026, in Surprise, Arizona. (Chris Coduto/Getty Images)

Baumler came into the Rangers’ exhibition game against the Kansas City Royals in relief of MacKenzie Gore in the fifth inning. He didn’t allow a run and struck out one batter. But Schumaker made his appearance on the mound even after Baumler didn’t meet the three-batter requirement before he would be allowed to be removed from the game.

Schumaker gathered the infield around him and told him he had made the major league roster to start the season. Baumler was beaming as the huddle broke.

“Somebody said, ‘I wish I got a picture of you when you turned around and saw him,’” he said after the game, via MLB.com. “Most of the time you see the manager come out, (it’s) like, ‘OK, you’re out of the game.’

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Texas Rangers manager Skip Schumaker (55) checks his lineup card during the fifth inning against the Kansas City Royals at Surprise Stadium on Feb. 20, 2026. (Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Imagn Images)

“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.”

Baumler said he thought he was going to be taken out of the game. He had no idea Schumaker was going to tell him he made the team.

The Pittsburgh Pirates initially picked Baumler in the Rule 5 Draft before the Rangers traded for him in the offseason. Because he was a Rule 5 selection, it meant the Rangers would have had to keep him on the roster for the entire season if they chose to put him on the opening day roster.

Once the decision was finalized, Schumaker was able to deliver the good news.

Texas Rangers pitcher Carter Baumler during media day at Surprise Sports Complex on Feb. 17, 2026. (Arianna Grainey/Imagn Images)

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Baumler has yet to make his major league debut. The Baltimore Orioles originally drafted him in the fifth round in 2020. He spent time in Baltimore’s farm system before he moved around teams following the 2025 season.

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