Carpenter's heroics no surprise to those who've followed his journey

DETROIT -- Kerry Carpenter stood in front of the Tigers' dugout at Progressive Field, talking on-air with TNT Sports reporter Lauren Jbara moments after hitting a go-ahead three-run homer that lifted the Tigers to an ALDS-tying victory, when Tarik Skubal -- the other hero of Detroit's 3-0 win in Game 2 on Monday -- snuck up from behind and gave him a hug.

“What a swing,” Skubal exclaimed.

It was a genuine emotional moment between two teammates who came up through Detroit’s farm system a couple of years apart. It’s also what Tigers officials, teammates and fans have been saying about Carpenter for three years.

“Kerry just being Kerry Bonds,” catcher Jake Rogers said, citing Carpenter's nickname in the clubhouse.

More than 500 miles away, in St. Louis, Richard Schenck had been on his couch at home watching the game on TV, appreciating the pitching duel but hoping for a big hit, as hitting instructors often do. He had seen his pupil Carpenter enter as a pinch-hitter earlier in the game and pop out. As the Tigers strung together a two-out rally off Emmanuel Clase in the ninth inning, Schenck saw another chance.

“He comes up with two outs in the ninth,” Schenck said on Tuesday, “and I'm just saying, ‘Come on Kerry, just get me a base hit, runner on third.’”

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Carpenter visited Schenck on the recommendation of former Tiger Jacob Robson just before Spring Training in 2022 with a goal of getting to more pitches -- launch quickness, as Carpenter calls it. By loading up his swing before deciding whether to swing at a pitch, Carpenter could be ready for high-velocity fastballs but still have time to react to other pitches.

The battle with Clase put that on display. Carpenter fouled off a 100.6 mph cutter, then a 93.5 mph slider a couple of pitches later to keep his at-bat alive.

“As I'm watching the at-bat,” Schenck said, “I could tell he feels really good. I could tell by how he took pitches and how he fouled balls back that he was feeling it. It was just a matter of getting a pitch.”

The next slider, in nearly the same spot, was that pitch.

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“And as soon he hit it, I shouted out loud, ‘He did it,’” Schenck said. “We're home alone, and I never shout out like that. It was cool.”

Across the country, Gabe Alvarez watched the at-bat unfold at his home in California. The former Tigers third baseman and current Double-A Erie manager saw enough big home runs from Carpenter with the SeaWolves two years ago -- he homered 13 times in one month -- to know.

“As soon as he hit, I just stood up and knew that he got it,” Alvarez said. “I knew that he got it by his reaction. Just so excited, so happy for him. He was still rounding the bases when I texted him.”

That’s the swing that caught Alvarez’s eye, the swing that not only launched balls all over the Eastern League but launched the career of a former 19th-round pick who spent the previous season in the background in Erie, behind top prospects Riley Greene and Spencer Torkelson, and who slumped through the first month of 2022 while learning his new swing.

That’s the swing that once prompted Alvarez to send off a note to Detroit.

“I talk to our player-development people about everybody,” Alvarez said, “But I specifically remember sending a text to A.J. Hinch saying, ‘Hey, when you have a chance, give me a call. I need to talk to you about Kerry Carpenter.’ This guy was ready for a new challenge, and I told [Hinch] I didn't think it was going to be long before he was ready to help the [Major League] club.”

The breakout was a reward for Carpenter’s swing change, a leap of faith on his part after a decent first full pro season in 2021. But faith is something that Carpenter has had in abundance. He lost his father, Ken, to cancer in 2020 and worked part-time that summer at a sporting goods store after the COVID-19 pandemic led to the cancellation of the Minor League season.

“I feel like it’s a lot of God’s grace right now,” Carpenter said after his homer, a phrase he has used more than once.

“Kerry's faith is very important to him,” Schenck said. “And I think it helps him handle these situations really well.”

Carpenter has always showed belief in himself and humility to others.

“I don't know a person that has ever said anything bad about Kerry Carpenter as a person,” Alvarez said. “He's a great kid. Just so happy for him. Couldn't happen to a better guy. And watching his development over the last couple years and how he's learned to attack certain pitches, it's been fun to watch.”

If he’s relatively unknown nationally, it’s not for lack of appreciation in Detroit or the AL Central. It’s not a coincidence that the Tigers’ late-season surge followed Carpenter’s mid-August return from a stress fracture in his back. It’s also not a coincidence that Guardians manager Stephen Vogt, knowing Carpenter loomed as a pinch-hitting option, stuck with lefty starter Matthew Boyd to face right-handed power hitter Justyn-Henry Malloy for a third time, rather than let Carpenter face right-hander Cade Smith.

“We missed him for a long time this year, and obviously he's a centerpoint of our offense,” Hinch said. “When we face right-handed pitching, he's usually batting second, third or fourth. When he's not, he's got his helmet on and his bat in his hand pretty much for every inning until we decide to unleash him. Everybody knows it.

“It's no secret that he's a big threat and he's prepared, and he's as balanced a human as you're going to get, which allows him to stay grounded in whatever we ask him to do. We missed him a ton during the year, and this is an example why. But there’s so many more things that he brings to the table that create an incredible influence on our team.”