Matt Carpenter has been the best story of the 2022 MLB season. Not long, but just a month ago, Carpenter did not have any employer in MLB, and now he is smashing home runs for fun. Thanks to the New York Yankees, who trusted the veteran to perform from the plate. And with each game passing, Carpenter is proving to be the signing of the season for the Pinstripes.
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2022 is the year of the resurgence of the old guns in MLB. While the second half of the 2022 MLB season is yet to start, Carpenter already has two multi-homers games, something only Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, and Joe DiMaggio have done in the Yankees’ history.
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And now he is on the course to break another historical record of an MLB legend. Yes! Once sitting on the couch with no major league contract in his hands, Carpenter is running the show from the plate for the Pinstripes. Notably, earlier this year, the Texas Rangers released him from their active roster and threw him out into a minor league team.
Matt Carpenter receives a standing ovation from the Bronx
“Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re going to get.” This famous quote from Forrest Gump perfectly fits Matt Carpenter. As earlier mentioned, even Carpenter did not know that he would have his career-best season with the Yankees this year. But here we are, witnessing the greatness of a serial hitter.
Earlier in May, when the Yankees called him to join their roster in Tampa, Carpenter packed his bags and immediately joined the team, as all he wanted was to swing his bat in major league games.
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And now, when he appeared in the Bronx to play against the Boston Red Sox, Carpenter received a standing ovation from the home crowd.
Matt Carpenter, a guy who showed up in the Yankees clubhouse in Tampa with nothing to lose, who said he would load the bags on the team plane if they asked, and attended his first hitters meeting in jeans, just got a standing ovation while coming to the plate in a Sox-Yanks game.
— Lindsey Adler (@lindseyadler) July 17, 2022
Taking to Twitter, Lindsey Adler shared the same. “Matt Carpenter, a guy who showed up in the Yankees clubhouse in Tampa with nothing to lose, who said he would load the bags on the team plane if they asked. And attended his first hitters meeting in jeans, just got a standing ovation while coming to the plate in a Sox-Yanks game.”
Is Carpenter after Barry Bonds’ iconic record?
With 13 home runs and 34 RBIs from the plate, Matt Carpenter is already a top performer for the Pinstripes this season. What is more remarkable is the fact that he has achieved this feat only in two months.
Matt Carpenter of the @Yankees is the second MLB hitter in the modern era to have a 1.000+ slugging percentage over his first 20 starts of a season.
The other was Barry Bonds in 2004 (1.122).
— Stats By STATS (@StatsBySTATS) July 17, 2022
Per MLB.com, Carpenter has a 1.380 slugging percentage in his first 20 starts in the 2022 season. Only Barry Bonds (1.122 in 2004) has crossed the 1.000-plus mark in the modern era. If Carpenter continues to play like this, he will write a new chapter in MLB. Only time will tell how far he will go.
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Simar Singh Wadhwa