Veteran slugger goes from bust to breakout
The back of Chris Carter’s baseball card looked like a forgery to any Yankees fan who had watched his first two months in pinstripes.
The National League-worst 206 strikeouts with the Brewers last season checked out. The .199 batting average with the Astros in 2015 made sense.
But it didn’t seem possible that the struggling slugger could have shared the National League-lead with 41 home runs last season, while driving in 94 runs.
Carter has had plenty of chances to showcase his power, more opportunities than the Yankees would have preferred. With Greg Bird sidelined by injury for most of the season, Carter has toiled at the bottom of the lineup, hovering around the Mendoza Line, while hitting four home runs, with 14 RBI’s in his first 113 at-bats of the season.
Now, with Bird nearing a return, Carter demonstrated the potential he still possesses, crushing a home run for the second straight game, while finishing with a season-high three hits and four RBIs in the Yankees’ 8-0 win over the Red Sox on Wednesday night.
“I think we knew he was capable of hitting. We knew it,” Girardi said. “We just felt like that he had to make some minor adjustments and he’s been working really hard at it. I think you saw him [using] his legs more, and I think it makes a big difference. It gives him more of a chance. And it’d be great to get that bat going because that’s a big bat.”
After opening with a single, Carter gave the Yankees control in the fourth inning after hitting a threerun homer to left field off of reigning A.L. Cy Young winner Rick Porcello, giving the Yankees a 5-0 lead with his sixth home run of the season. It was Carter’s first multi-hit, and multi-RBI, game since May 16.
“It definitely feels good to contribute to the win and get some big hits for us,” Carter said. “[The season’s] been a lot of ups and downs, but I’m just trying to be consistent and put the bat on the ball.”
In the sixth, Carter came inches from adding a second home run, but his shot to right field was snared at the top of the wall by Mookie Betts. Replays appeared to show that a fan may have touched the ball over the fence before it landed in Betts’ glove, and though Girardi argued the call, the Yankees manager was told he couldn’t challenge the play because he didn’t object quickly enough.
“It’s hard. I’m watching the ball, I’m watching the ball, and we can’t see that,” Girardi said. “I felt I did do it in time, even though I didn’t put my hand up right away I thought it was within 30 seconds. It’s something I want to talk about with the league office. It’s a very tricky play.”
Carter remained hot in his final atbat, lining an RBI single off the leftfield wall, but with Bird coming back, the potential surge may be cut short.
“I don’t really know what’s gonna happen when [Bird] comes back, but I try not to worry about that too much,” Carter said. “I’m gonna try and control what I can control.”