Designated hitter Matt Carpenter was signed to a one-year contract with the Padres over the offseason after a 2022 campaign saw him hit .305/.412/.727 with 15 home runs in 47 games with the New York Yankees. Carpenter, a Texas native, was drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals in the 13th round in 2009. He made his MLB in 2011 and went on to play 11 seasons for St. Louis, six of which landed him in the postseason. When the Cardinals did not renew his contract after a few sub-par seasons, he became a free agent in 2022 for the first time in his career and eventually landed with the Yankees, where he found success using a retooled swing. A graduate of Texas Christian University, the 37-year-old Carpenter is a three-time All-Star and the winner of a Silver Slugger award.
Union-Tribune: You grew up in Galveston, Texas, where you have a ranch now. Are there animals on your ranch and do you take care of things there?
Carpenter: I do have animals and I do have a caretaker, a ranch manager who lives out there full time and kind of runs the operation for me. My dad grew up on a farm and it’s in our family. I enjoy that lifestyle.
U-T: You live close to Trent Grisham, who you worked out with this past offseason. How did you guys become friends?
Carpenter: We’ve worked out about five or six offseasons in a row. I knew him before I became a Padre. He played high school baseball against my dad. My dad’s a high school baseball coach. So his team played against him, so I’ve known him for years.
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U-T: Your dad was your high school baseball coach. Did you learn most of what you know about the game from him?
Carpenter: I did. Grew up around the field, going to the field all the time with him. He taught me everything, kind of got me in to fall in love with the game.
U-T: You were a really accomplished player in high school before being recruited by TCU, where you went to college. Your team won the Mountain West Championship your sophomore year, but it wasn’t smooth sailing for you. You gained some weight, your grades dropped, you had Tommy John surgery your junior year. What happened during that time and how did you eventually turn things around?
Carpenter: Yeah, I was the kid who just didn’t adjust to college very well. You know, first time out of the house without your parents and just had a little too much fun at the beginning and didn’t really take care of my schoolwork and my body and stuff that I needed to be doing. I always tell people that I wouldn’t say I was, like, this big troublemaker; I just really lacked a lot of discipline and focus as a younger guy. And really, what kind of opened my eyes to the whole thing was, I’m a junior in college now, I’m out of shape, I’m not in good baseball shape. And I ended up having Tommy John surgery, missed the whole season and all my buddies and guys that I had come to school with were getting drafted, going on to play (professional) ball and, and I was like, ‘Man, you know, if I’m going to be what I think, if I want to become a professional baseball player, I gotta make some changes.’ So that’s kind of how it started.
U-T: After that you worked hard, but since you were 23 years old when you graduated college, did it seem like the dream of being drafted had disappeared?
Carpenter: Yeah. I wanted to play professional baseball but up to this point, I hadn’t had any conversations with scouts and I didn’t have an agent. And I had had no conversations headed into my last game in my college career. When I played it, I figured that I just played my last game and thankfully, the St. Louis Cardinals ended up giving me a chance and I tried to make the most of it.
U-T: Is it true that your aunt called you and told you that you had been drafted?
Carpenter: Yeah, I mean, I didn’t know. I was packing up my college home and preparing for what the potential next step would be. I had the draft on, but my internet was slower than hers, I guess, so she found out before I did.
U-T: Torii Hunter was a big influence on you after you were drafted, in of getting your feet under you in professional baseball. What kind of mentor was he?
Carpenter: Yeah, my dad coached both of Torii’s sons at Prosper High School down in Dallas. And really, how the whole thing started is that we showed up to the field one day and Torii was coming up there to hit and my dad introduced us and said, ‘Hey, this is my son Matt, he just signed professionally to play with the St. Louis Cardinals.’ I had not been to spring training yet. … And Torii was gracious enough to kind of take me under his wing and was like, ‘Hey, you need to come start working out with us, hitting with us.’ And, man, I spent the next two or three offseasons kind of following him around. He had a huge impact on my career.
U-T: How big is that now for you when you work with younger players?
Carpenter: It’s huge. I mean, I look back at the way he treated me and how, at this point in his career, he was 10 years in the majors, multiple All-Star Games, Gold Glover, like, one of the superstars of our game. And I was some nobody, a 13th-round, fifth-year senior out of TCU who had never played an inning of professional baseball, and he treated me like we were equals. I’ve had so much respect for that and I try to model that same kind of philosophy.
U-T: So this kid who didn’t think he was going to get drafted and went through all of that adversity goes on to become a three-time All-Star, a Silver Slugger and at times in the Most Valuable Player conversation. This is your 13th year, which is so impressive in of how difficult it is to have longevity in this league. Do you ever look back and think about that journey?
Carpenter: I do. I still pinch myself sometimes. I mean, to be sitting here, I really try not to take it for granted. You know, I’ve thought that I’ve played my last (game) a handful of times. I thought I did in 2021, I thought I did in 2009 when I played my last college game, so I don’t try to take any of this for granted. I’m super humbled and blessed to have this opportunity and I try to make the most of it every day.
U-T: You played seven games your first year in the majors and that Cardinals team went on to win the World Series. You were back in the minors during the playoffs but you got a ring, right?
Carpenter: I did. I made my major league debut that year, was part of the team, but did not make the postseason roster and wasn’t there. But still, pretty cool.
U-T: Very cool. And then the next four years after that, you went to the postseason and even the World Series. You were surrounded by amazing veterans, like Yadier Molina, Adam Wainwright. How did that shape you?
Carpenter: It was awesome. I mean, the kind of veteran leadership that we had there, future Hall of Famers, guys like Yadi and Albert (Pujols) and the list goes on, they had a huge impact on me. When you’re around those kinds of guys, you kind of see what it really means to be a true pro. And those guys embody it. Definitely a great place to come up as a young player.
U-T: Not only were you drafted by the Cardinals, but you spent your first 11 years in the majors with them. Did you think you would retire with St. Louis, and was it difficult when that chapter came to an end?
Carpenter: Certainly, when you are there for as long as I am, you start to think that this is the only place you’re going to play. I didn’t foresee myself playing anywhere else. But things have a funny way of working out. I didn’t perform great towards the end. They ended up making a move and I was able to kind of re-resurrect my career. It took me to New York last year and now here and I’m a big believer that things happen for a reason. I’ve got this great opportunity now in San Diego to be part of such a great team and a great group of guys that are after a World Series title. And for the first one in this franchise’s history, which would be pretty cool to be a part of.
U-T: Before New York, you stopped in the Rangers organization. You didn’t make that team out of spring training and instead went to their Triple-A . When you asked for your release, you had a moment where you told your family, ‘Hey, come watch me play. This might be my last game.’ What did you come to with at that time?
Carpenter: I really thought that was it. I had made the phone call to my wife, my mom and dad, my brother and a few other people. I have such great family . They’ve been through everything with me, and I wanted them to know that this is where my head was, that I thought this might be it. It was a bittersweet day. But I was at peace with it. I really felt like I had given it my best shot. I played well while I was down there and it didn’t work out. … I went home with my family after that game and my wife and I, and our two kids, went out and celebrated our daughter’s birthday and just kind of started to wrap our head around what this next phase of life was gonna be. And then I get a phone call from the general manager of the New York Yankees, Brian Cashman. I was in the lineup, like, a day later.
U-T: What was it like to put on those pinstripes and to play for the New York Yankees?
Carpenter: It’s a special place, there’s no doubt. As a baseball fan — or anybody that follows this game — they know what kind of organization that is, what they mean to the sport and some of the history that’s there. The guys who’ve put on that uniform, Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Mickey Mantle, I mean, these iconic names. You feel it. You certainly can feel the mystique about it. It was a great experience, something I’ll never forget.
U-T: Do you still make that salsa that you made when you were with the Cardinals, when it essentially became legendary in 2018?
Carpenter: I do. Yeah, it’s a family recipe for sure.
U-T: What’s the story behind it? It was kind of a good luck thing, where you would make it and bring it to the clubhouse and you’d eat it before the game?
Carpenter: Pretty much. It wasn’t abnormal by any means of me making it. I just happened to make it and post it on my Instagram story coinciding with a time that I was swinging the bat really well. I was in Wrigley Field, hit a bunch of homers in a series and the fans just kind of ran with it and I started making it and started hitting a lot of homers and it just became a thing.
U-T: Yeah, they made T-shirts, sold the salsa in stores, it was definitely a thing. Pretty cool. Do you cook?
Carpenter: I do. Actually, I love to cook. It’s my second ion.
U-T: What’s the best thing you make?
Carpenter: I’m just a smoker guy. Like I do barbecue on the grill, all that kind of stuff.
U-T: You pitched against the Padres once, back in 2021 …
Carpenter: Yeah, I got (Ha-Seong) Kim out. I made sure he knew about it too. I told them all (when I first came here).
U-T: That was your first time pitching in the majors, right?
Carpenter: Yeah. And I didn’t give up a run. It was a scoreless inning. An inning and a third, actually.
U-T: What did you feature?
Carpenter: Really slow stuff.
