Rangers will start season with Jack Leiter and Kumar Rocker, but not Evan Carter

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Rangers will start season with Jack Leiter and Kumar Rocker, but not Evan Carter

2025-03-26 06:35 Last Updated At：06:40

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Jack Leiter and Kumar Rocker have both made the opening day roster with the Texas Rangers, and the recent first-round draft picks will fill the final two spots in the rotation.

The Rangers also said Tuesday that Evan Carter will begin this season in the minors with Triple-A Round Rock. An outfielder who made a dazzling debut late in 2023 before a standout postseason in the club's run to its first World Series championship, Carter had an injury-plagued 2024 and then hit .158 in 14 games this spring.

“I know I can help this team win. So take advantage of the opportunity to kind of have a stress-free environment to get back to what I know I can do,” Carter said after being informed of the team's decision.

Rangers president of baseball operations Chris Young still expects Carter to play a big part for the team this season.

“He just needs some reps. He missed a lot of time, swing’s not dialed in right now,” Young said. “(I) have full confidence he’s he’s going to get going here. And when he does, he’s going to be right back here.”

As for the young pitchers, Young said before the team’s final exhibition game that Leiter and Rocker had good flashes during spring training.

“I think the talent on both is obvious, and they’ve earned the right to be out here,” Young said.

Leiter was the second overall pick in the 2021 amateur draft, a year before his former Vanderbilt teammate Rocker was taken third overall by the Rangers. Both are still rookies after making their big league debuts last season, Rocker after Tommy John surgery in 2023.

“At Vandy that last year, I don’t think we ever could have imagined that this would be happening. ... Same team, same rotation, opening day roster. It’s awesome,” Leiter said.

“Means everything. I think we’ve just gotten closer as friends, as teammates, and just doing it side by side,” Rocker said. “This being the first year is going to be something special.”

Still, Young said the reactions by Leiter and Rocker when told they made the team were “more reserved than I expected. I think mainly because they expect this of themselves.”

Manager Bruce Bochy said Leiter, the son of former big leaguer Al, will pitch in the second game of the regular season Friday against Boston, but could follow an opener. Rocker, whose dad is defensive line coach for the NFL's Tennessee Titans, is set to start the first road game Monday at Cincinnati.

Texas had open rotation spots after right-hander Jon Gray broke his right wrist when he was struck by a line drive in a spring training game March 14, and left-hander Cody Bradford was shut down from throwing because of soreness in his elbow. Both will start the season on the injured list, while struggling Dane Dunning was sent back to the minor leagues.

Free agent left-hander Patrick Corbin signed a $1.1 million, one-year contract last week and threw a simulated game Monday. Young said Corbin is expected to the minors to make two starts while continuing to build up before joining the big league team around April 11.

After Carter’s call-up in September as an injury fill-in in 2023, making his big league debut 10 days after his 21st birthday, he hit .306 with five homers and 12 RBIs in 23 games to finish the regular season.

The left fielder then reached base in all 17 of the Rangers’ postseason games, hitting .300 with an MLB postseason record nine doubles. He also had 10 walks.

Carter was limited to 45 games because of back issues in what was supposed to be his first full big league season in 2024. He hit .188 with five homers and 15 RBIs.

“I’ve proven to myself and everybody else that I can do it, and I did it on the highest stage,” Carter said. “So I know that it’s in there, and I’ve just got to get right back to feeling confident.”

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Myanmar's earthquake death toll jumps to over 1,000 as more bodies recovered from the rubble

2025-03-29 14:11 Last Updated At：14:21

BANGKOK (AP) — The death toll from a powerful 7.7 magnitude earthquake in Myanmar jumped to over 1,000 on Saturday as more bodies were pulled from the rubble of the scores of buildings that collapsed when it struck near the country's second-largest city.

The country's military-led government said in a statement that 1,002 people have now been found dead and another 2,376 injured, with 30 others missing. The statement suggested the numbers could still rise, saying “detailed figures are still being collected.”

Myanmar is in the throes of a prolonged and bloody civil war, which is already responsible for a massive humanitarian crisis. It makes movement around the country both difficult and dangerous, complicating relief efforts and raising fears that the death toll could still rise precipitously.

The earthquake struck midday Friday with an epicenter not far from Mandalay, followed by several aftershocks including one measuring a strong 6.4 magnitude. It sent buildings in many areas toppling to the ground, buckled roads, caused bridges to collapse and burst a dam.

In neighboring Thailand, the quake rocked the greater Bangkok area, home to some 17 million people — many of whom live in high-rise buildings — and other parts of the country.

Bangkok city authorities said so far six people have been found dead, 26 injured and 47 are still missing, most from a construction site near the capital's popular Chatuchak market.

When the quake hit, the 33-story high-rise being built by a Chinese firm for the Thai government wobbled, then came crashing to the ground in a massive plume of dust that sent people screaming and fleeing from the scene.

On Saturday, more heavy equipment was brought in to move the tons of rubble, but hope was fading among friends and family members of the missing that they would be found alive.

“I was praying that that they had survived but when I got here and saw the ruin — where could they be? In which corner? Are they still alive? I am still praying that all six are alive,” said 45-year-old Naruemol Thonglek, sobbing as she awaited news about her partner, who is from Myanmar, and five friends who worked at the site.

“I cannot accept this. When I see this I can’t accept this. A close friend of mine is in there, too,” she said.

Waenphet Panta said she hadn't heard from her daughter Kanlayanee since a phone call about an hour before the quake. A friend told her Kanlayanee had been working high on the building on Friday.

“I am praying my daughter is safe, that she has survived and that she’s at the hospital,” she said, Kanlayanee’s father sitting beside her.

Myanmar’s government said blood was in high demand in the hardest-hit areas. In a country where prior governments sometimes have been slow to accept foreign aid, Min Aung Hlaing said Myanmar was ready to accept assistance.

A 37-member team from the Chinese province of Yunnan reached the city of Yangon early Saturday with earthquake detectors, drones and other supplies, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

Russia’s emergencies ministry dispatched two planes carrying 120 rescuers and supplies, according to a report from the Russian state news agency Tass.

India sent a search and rescue team and a medical team as well as provisions, while Malaysia’s foreign ministry said the country will send 50 people on Sunday to help identify and provide aid to the worst-hit areas.

The United Nations allocated $5 million to start relief efforts. President Donald Trump said Friday that the U.S. was going to help with the response, but some experts were concerned about this effort given his administration’s deep cuts in foreign assistance.

The Trump administration's cuts to the United States Agency for International Development have already forced the United Nations and non-governmental organization to cut many programs in Myanmar.

AP writers Jerry Harmer and Grant Peck in Bangkok contributed to this report.