5 things to know about Matt Carpenter, who’s returning to the Cardinals

Matt Carpenter, who spent his first 11 years of his big-league career in St. Louis, is returning to the Cardinals on a one-year deal, the team announced Friday.

The former All-Star who put up some spectacular hitting numbers at times with the Cardinals has had an up-and-down two years since leaving the team following the 2021 season.

The 38-year-old left-handed hitter has appeared in 123 MLB games over the past two seasons with the Yankees and Padres.

He’ll be paid $740,000, the league minimum. Atlanta will pay the remainder of what he’s owed from a $12 million two-year deal he signed with San Diego last year.

Here are five other things to know about Carpenter:

People are also reading…

A strong start in San Diego, then struggles

Carpenter signed with San Diego last offseason, playing regularly for the first three months before a slump led to a drastic cut in playing time as the season wore on.

Carpenter served mostly as a designated hitter, logging just 81 innings at first base for his only action in the field.

After a strong start in San Diego, hitting .250 with a .908 on-base plus slugging percentage in the season’s first month, Carpenter struggled mightily, batting .128 with a .459 OPS from May through July.

“Early in the season, he had some really good at-bats,” Padres manager Bob Melvin told the San Diego Union-Tribune of Carpenter’s issues. “I think at one point in time he was leading our team in RBIs. So it’s like us, getting on a roll, a few good games in a row for us, sweeping a series, winning, two, three, four, five games in a row. I think it’s a microcosm of who we are as a team.”

Carpenter exercised a $5.5 million player option for 2024, then the Padres shipped he and most of his salary, along with a reliever, to Atlanta, saving almost $5 million. The Braves released him just days after that deal.

A revitalizing year in New York

Upon becoming a free agent after the 2021 season, his last with the Cardinals, Carpenter signed a deal with his home-state Rangers and was shipped to Triple-A.

“I wanted the opportunity to bet on myself,” Carpenter told the Dallas Morning News in spring training. “I didn’t want to be handed a job. I want to prove it to somebody. This is something that motivates me. It puts that chip on my shoulder to come out here and put the work in and try to make something happen. So, yeah, there’s, there was a lot of things that went into it.”

He put up a .992 OPS with Round Rock, the Rangers’ Triple-A affiliate, but requested his release in mid-May of 2022 after he didn’t see a path forward toward an MLB role, according to reports.

A week later, he signed with the Yankees, playing in pinstripes immediately and putting up spectacular numbers.

Carpenter hit .305 with a 1.138 OPS in 47 games with the Yankees, taking about half his at-bats as a designated hitter or pinch hitter, the other half in various positions including first base and right field.

His season came to an abrupt end in August, when he fouled a pitch off his foot, fracturing it.

“Obviously what he did between the lines, I think he caught everyone by surprise and was so impactful,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone told NJ.com upon his departure. “He was great in the room, too. He was just a really good teammate. Great pro. We’ll miss him.”

Veteran clubhouse presence

Cardinals president of baseball operations John Mozeliak has said the Cardinals lacked experience, leadership, influence and a hard edge last season, when they struggled to a 71-91 mark, their worst record since 1995.

The team has prioritized those traits with its signings this year, inking Lance Lynn, Kyle Gibson and Sonny Gray, all veteran pitchers.

Carpenter should add even more veteran leadership, having been one of the team’s leaders during his career here and playing a key part on nine Cardinals playoff teams.

Carpenter has 193 playoff plate appearances, 181 of them with the Cardinals. He has a .678 OPS in playoff games.

He’s also served as a literal leader, batting from the lead-off position 3,444 times in his career, or 73% of his plate appearances. He has a career on-base plus slugging percentage of .865 when batting at the top of the lineup.

Filling a need for lefties

The Cardinals will likely utilize Carpenter mainly as a designated hitter and off the bench as a pinch hitter.

As a lefty, he fills an area of need. St. Louis ranked 22nd in the majors with 1,804 plate appearances by lefties last season.

By WAR, the Cardinals ranked 16th in batting by lefties last season, according to Fangraphs.

Last offseason, the Cardinals unsuccessfully sought out a left-handed bat.

When the team’s lefties were hit with injuries late last season, the lineup took a hit.

“They’re able to run righties through that lane without the difficulty of facing one lefty,” manager Oliver Marmol said in August. “When you have Noot or Gorman, it splits up that row and makes it a lot more different to strategize against. That’s just the reality.”

With Cardinals, a stellar start, then a steep decline

The Cardinals drafted Carpenter in the 13th round in 2009 out of Texas Christian. He made his MLB debut two years later, in June 2011. He made just 19 plate appearances that season.

The following year, Carpenter burst onto the scene, putting up an .828 OPS and earning votes for Rookie of the Year.

Then in 2013, he put up one of his best years with the Redbirds, getting on base at a .392 clip with a career-best 199 hits. Carpenter hit .388 with runners in scoring position that year.

His strong play continued in 2014, when he was fourth in MVP voting and earned his first All-Star selection, the first of several strong years.

A team stalwart, Carpenter and the team struggled in parts of 2018 before he famously went on a tear that he credited to his salsa. He was baseball’s best hitter for a stretch that year, ending up with an .897 OPS, his best for a full season in his career.

Then, the struggles began. His final three years in St. Louis were the worst of his career. He hit just .203 with a .671 OPS from 2019-21.

The Cardinals gave Carpenter a $2 million buyout after the 2021 season and bid him adieu.

Be the first to know

Get local news delivered to your inbox!