You can always go home. It’s a lesson Matt Charpentier learn this weekend. Carpenter is now the DH for the New York Yankees, and the Yankees are playing a three-game series this weekend against Carpenter’s former team, the St. Louis Cardinals. It’s the first time Carp has returned to St. Louis since leaving the team after the 2021 season and 11 years of wearing the Bird on the Bat.
Hitting third in the lineup, Carpenter didn’t take long Friday night to make his first plate appearance. Fans greeted Carpenter with a nearly 45-second standing ovation. He then singled on a 3-2 count, which put a runner up from first to third. It was the first of two Friday night hits for Carpenter.
His TCU coach had this to say:
Carpenter met with members of the media Friday before the game. He was asked about his family’s reaction to returning to the place they called home, and on two occasions he was overwhelmed with emotions.
“Just getting off the plane [Thursday] night and being back in St. Louis, it all started for me,” he said at the press conference on Friday. “My family will be here, and I haven’t seen a lot of [Cardinals players] again, but it will make things difficult, that’s for sure. Lots of special memories.
“I was telling someone earlier that these will be the first three games since 2009 that I haven’t shot for the St. Louis Cardinals to win. All season, every time we don’t play and our schedule match i watch the guys i check every box and i legitimately want them to win every game it will be the first three where they don’t but as soon as we leave town i will be right back [a Cardinals fan]. It’s going to be weird facing them, but being able to separate the emotions will be a challenge.
Carpenter spent 11 seasons as a Cardinal. His last two years haven’t gone so well for him or the team, as he hit 0.186 in 2020 and 0.169 last year. In his first nine years with the team, he hit 148 home runs, had .835 OPS, and was a clutch player through the playoffs.
At the end of last season, he and the Cardinals went their separate ways. He wasn’t sure then if he would play baseball again. He wrote a nice letter to St. Louis fans, which can be seen here.
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When Spring Training opened that year, Carpenter signed a minor league contract with the Texas Rangers. He did not make the opening day roster and started this season with the Rangers Triple-A team at Round Rock. On May 19, he was released by Rangers. And on May 26, he signed with the Yankees.
Carpenter hasn’t looked back since. He took advantage of the short fence in right field at Yankee Stadium. And he rediscovered his swing after struggling with it the past two years in St. Louis. He became a Bronx fan favorite. He bats .322, has 15 home runs, 36 RBIs, nine doubles and his OPS is 1.226
Here’s how his 2022 season compares to his regular-season career stats:
| Year | A B | R | H | HOUR | RBI | AVERAGE | OBP | OPS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Season 2022 |
120 |
28 |
39 |
15 |
36 |
.325 |
.434 |
1.209 |
|
Career Regular season |
4523 |
780 |
1192 |
170 |
612 |
.264 |
.369 |
.826 |
Friday before batting practice, Carpenter saw several of his former teammates. His first roommate in the minor leagues was Olivier Marmolnow coach of the Cardinals.
Horned Frogs have been a longtime fan of Carpenter and have followed his professional career for over a decade.
He was the Frog’s third baseman from 2005 to 2009. He won the All-Mountain West Conference second team in 2006, 2008 and 2009. Carpenter currently ranks second all-time in games played (241), third all-time at bat (843), third all-time in hits. (263), fourth all-time in doubles (57) and second all-time in walks (150) for the Frogs. He was part of the team that took TCU to its first Super Regional in 2009. That was the year before the first trip to Omaha. That year, the Frogs faced No. 1 national seed Texas in the Super Regional in Austin. And it took all three games in Texas to qualify for the CWS.
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