Rangers pitcher learns he made opening day roster during game

Former MLB player Micah Johnson discusses the 2026 Major League Baseball season and how the World Baseball Classic is boosting interest in the sport on ‘Fox Report.’

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