After going through a rough stretch in the beginning of the month which saw his average drop to below .3oo for the first time this season, Matt Carpenter has steadily worked his way back into form.
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“Every season I’ve ever had, at any level–minor leagues, college–you go through patches were you don’t feel good at the plate,” said Carpenter recently. “You’ve just got to find a way to fight out of it. If you can work walks and work a couple singles and do that, that’s how you have good seasons is if you can shorten that time.”
The St. Louis Cardinals third baseman has been headed in the right direction. Besides hitting .353 (6-17) over the last six games, he’s drawn six walks to result in an on-base percentage of .542.
“Honestly, hitting is hard,” added Carpenter. “There’s no real rhyme or reason–just go through it. You don’t realize it–and you don’t even know what it is until you get out of it and you’re like ‘oh, I was doing this’ but when you’re going through, you have no idea. That’s part of it.”
Besides working more walks and singles, Carpenter has also squared around to show the bunt.
“I’ll always–if you’re going to give it to me, I’ll take it,” he said. “I could be 4-4 with 4 homers and if you give me the bunt, I’m going to take it.”
PITCH TO STANTON??
–Miami’s Giancarlo Stanton leads the Majors with 25 home runs and 64 runs batted in. Yet he does not rank in the top 10 most walked batters in the National League. His 32 BB’s rank 13th–Matt Carpenter is tied for 6th (37) and Matt Holliday is tied for 11th (33).
Marcell Ozuna, who regularly bats fifth behind Stanton, is hitting .272 with 4 homers and 26 RBIs this season. But a consideration in pitching to Stanton is his strikeout rate–the Marlins slugger has struck out 89 times this season, third most in the big leagues.
top photo credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports
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