Carter ponders offers from Texas Rangers

Published 12:00 am Saturday, August 6, 2005

MURFREESBORO – More than a month has passed since the Texas Rangers selected Dexter Carter in the Major League Baseball Draft.

The team has strengthened their efforts to sign Carter and get him into rookie ball.

Meanwhile, Louisburg College is anxiously awaiting Carter’s arrival on campus where he is expected to be a key performer for the squad should he decide to enter college.

&uot;I’m still waiting,&uot; Carter said late last week. &uot;I am satisfied either way we choose to go.&uot;

Since the draft, the Rangers have made a few offers to Carter, but none that he has accepted.

The Rangers’ attempts to get Carter signed have intensified in recent weeks. After sending a variety of scouts over the past few weeks, two weeks ago, Rangers’ Director of Scouting Ron Hopkins made his way to Greenbrier Christian Academy to see Carter workout.

Days later, Larry Carter, Dexter’s father, received a telephone call asking him to have his son at Camden Yards in Baltimore to meet with more people from the organization.

&uot;We met with Manager Buck Showalter and Pitching Coach Orel Hershiser among others,&uot; Larry Carter said. &uot;They were all very positive and each one called Dexter by name. They knew who he was.&uot;

In addition to meeting the team’s manager and pitching coach, Carter had the trainers look at his arm and pitched in the bullpen while Hershiser looked on with a watchful eye.

&uot;Everyone was down-to-earth,&uot; Dexter Carter said. &uot;They were neat guys.&uot;

Carter said he was taking a wait and see attitude towards the coming weeks. Once he begins class at Louisburg, tentatively set for August 23, the Rangers will lose the right to negotiate with him.

&uot;We have been told several times they want to know the date he is heading to school,&uot; Larry Carter said.

Still, whatever waits in the coming days, Dexter Carter said he will be pleased and is looking forward to pitching this fall.

&uot;I’m waiting on them, but everything is set for me to attend college,&uot; he said.