Matt Carpenter is having quite the resurgent season with the New York Yankees.
Playing in a reserve role, he has six home runs, 10 runs scored, and 13 RBI in just 30 plate appearances.
If you want to translate that to a slash line format, it’s .333/.467/1.125.
His 1.592 OPS is incredible.
Amazingly, six of his first seven hits in pinstripes were home runs, a stat that has some historical implications.
“Matt Carpenter of the @Yankees is the second player in the modern era (since 1900) to have 6 of his first 7 hits of a season be home runs. He joins Trevor Story, who did so to begin his MLB career in 2016,” Stats by STATS tweeted.
Matt Carpenter of the @Yankees is the second player in the modern era (since 1900) to have 6 of his first 7 hits of a season be home runs.
He joins Trevor Story, who did so to begin his MLB career in 2016.
— Stats By STATS (@StatsBySTATS) June 12, 2022
The Yankees Helped Carpenter Resurrect His Career
Carpenter was stellar for the last time in 2018: he was more of an average hitter in 2019 (.726 OPS), and then fell off a cliff in 2020 and 2021.
That’s why he didn’t find much of a market in the offseason and ended up signing a minor-league deal with his hometown Texas Rangers.
The Rangers released him, however, and the Yankees decided to give him a shot in May.
They are surely not regretting the move one bit.
Carpenter doesn’t really have too much defensive value at this point, but he is sure making up for it with his potent bat.
The short right field porch in Yankee Stadium is built for his fly-ball swing from the left side of the plate.
There probably won’t be too many opportunities for playing time in the Yankees when everybody is healthy, but Carpenter is thriving in a part-time role with the Bombers.
At this stage of his career (36 years old) he is feeling important on a contender; and he is.
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