Who is Carter Jensen? Everything You Need to Know About the Kansas City Royals’ Young Star

The third-round pick for the Kansas City Royals in the 2021 draft, Carter Jensen, is set to make his Major League Baseball debut at Kauffman Stadium against the Los Angeles Angels on Tuesday. He’s ranked 69th on MLB Pipeline’s list of baseball’s best prospects, and he sits 88th on Baseball America’s top-100 ranking.

The recently turned 22-year-old hails from Kansas City, and to play for his hometown is an opportunity he once could only dream about. “It’s real experience. It’s one of those things I have been looking forward to.” He recently admitted.

Carter Jensen is currently slashing a .288/.404/.647  line with 14 home runs and three stolen bases over 43 games. Initially, the Royals may look to limit the left-handed-hitting Jensen’s exposure to southpaws. However, he could be in store for at least semi-regular playing time versus right-handed pitching while switching between catcher and designated hitter.

Let’s get to know Carter Jensen more closely. Shall we?

Who is Carter Jensen? All to know about his parents, family, background, and more

Catching prospect Carter Jensen is a Park Hill High School standout. Growing up around Kauffman Stadium, it’s been a dream for Jensen to play professional baseball for the Royals. “It was just surreal knowing I’d be part of the team I grew up watching and even saw in the 2015 World Series,” he said. Right after he was drafted, Carter Jensen started his journey in the minor leagues. He played with the Royals’ Arizona affiliate team last fall, batting .281 with 16 hits across 19 games.

After the season, he had to undergo surgery to remove bone spurs in his right elbow. Fortunately, he returned to action by spring training in February. Once camp broke in April, he was promoted to the Columbia Fireflies for his first full professional season.

His first eight weeks in Columbia didn’t go as he had hoped. By June 1, Jensen batted a subpar .161. Defensively, he made seven errors in the 17 games he started behind the plate. After that stint, things began to get smoother.

His parents—Jim and Kim Jensen were just recently recalling the time when Jensen was as young as eight or nine years old and he already knew he’d be a professional baseball player one day. Since then, he’s worked tirelessly to turn that dream into reality.

Today, Kim and Jim couldn’t be prouder to see their son donning the uniform of his hometown team. “He was given a God-given ability to hit the baseball hard. He has worked really hard on improving his craft,” said Kim, Jenson’s mom.

A look at Carter Jensen’s baseball journey before his MLB debut

Carter Jensen grew up nearly 25 miles away from Kauffman Stadium, home of the Royals. Since the early days, he had admired Salvador Perez, Eric Hosmer, Alex Gordon, and Mike Moustakas—and all the other players on the team that won the World Series in 2015. Carter Jensen started in the team’s minor league camp on March 3. By then, he was already living one of his biggest dreams.

Before the big league debut, he had played in six Cactus League games during his short stint in major league camp. He went 1-for-6 with a double and two RBIs over that stretch. Moreover, he had put up impressive numbers—.292/.360/.420 in 308 PA in Double-A ball to earn his first promotion to Triple-A earlier this summer.

During his senior year, he batted .387 with a .578 on-base percentage and had committed to play at Louisiana State University. The evaluators admire Jensen’s ability to get on base, and he has a good eye at the plate, too. It’s also worth noting that his strikeout rate has shot upwards during his brief time at Triple-A. As a catcher, Carter Jensen has a plus throwing arm, and his framing ability has been refined with time. He’s bound to be a solid defender in the coming years.