After resurgent '22, Carpenter eyes repeat slugfest

PEORIA, Ariz. -- The buzz is beginning to percolate at Padres camp as myriad new faces enter the locker room ahead of a highly anticipated 2023 season on the heels of last October's deep playoff run.

“I think the biggest excitement that we’re all feeling is what this team's got a chance to do from a talent standpoint,” said Matt Carpenter, who inked a one-year deal with San Diego in December with a player option for 2024. “I mean you're looking at one of the best rosters, if not the best roster, in Major League Baseball. So super fun start to camp, because not everybody gets a chance to say that they're competing for a World Series this year.”

Carpenter donned the brown and gold (complete with his vaunted mustache) in spring for the first time Sunday, participating in batting practice alongside Juan Soto, Adam Engel and fellow Texan Trent Grisham. The three-time All-Star was part of a late December signing spree by general manager A.J. Preller that included right-hander Seth Lugo and catcher Pedro Severino, all in addition to veterans Nelson Cruz, Michael Wacha, and most significantly, Xander Bogaerts, coming aboard over the winter.

There’s much reason for optimism surrounding Carpenter and the rekindled pop in his left-handed bat. Upon joining the Yankees’ active roster on May 26 last season, he went on a Ruth-esque tear with a .727 slugging percentage in 47 games, including an eye-popping 217 OPS+. His .422 ISO -- a mark that has only been reached six times in AL/NL history by qualified hitters -- would have easily placed him atop the Major League leaderboard, but he fouled a ball off his left foot on Aug. 8, fracturing it and ending his Cinderella run early.

It was just a year ago that Carpenter arrived at Rangers camp on a Minor League deal and accepted a Triple-A assignment to begin the season. While it might have been unique to see a then-36-year-old willingly re-adapting to the rigors of the Minors, the veteran was able to glean positives as he arrives with a San Diego squad that envisions him as a possible X-factor.

“When you get humbled as much as I have in this game, I mean I didn't know if I'd ever play again at the end of 2021. To go down to Triple-A and kind of restart your career, it gives you a good perspective,” Carpenter said. “It really fills me with gratitude to be able to put on a uniform again and come in here and compete with a great group of guys like we have.”

With the handful of rule changes coming to Major League Baseball this season, many have surmised that veteran players would experience the largest aversion and adjustment period to change. But Carpenter’s foray back to the Minors last year gave him a firsthand look at the pitch timer, which he says took him just one game to recalibrate.

Maybe more pertinent to Carpenter’s 2023 season than the speed at which he gets into the box is what will be happening defensively once he digs in. In Carpenter’s time with New York last year, he pulled 57.9 percent of the balls he put in play, the highest rate of his career. For the third consecutive season, he saw the defense shift at least 89.5 percent of the time during his plate appearances.

While Carpenter delivered a gaudy -- and largely unsustainable -- .468 wOBA last year even while being shifted, his .534 wOBA without the shift is indicative that not having fielders camped out to his pull side is going to benefit his overall production.

“My eyes tell me that there's 10 or so hits every year that I felt like get taken away,” Carpenter said of the shift. “And that's a big number.”

If Carpenter hits, there are going to be reps available at multiple spots -- designated hitter, first base, right field. With Fernando Tatis Jr. unavailable for the first 20 games of the season, the outfield is somewhere the 37-year-old said he would make clear with team brass that he wants to explore. While he did draw 11 starts in right field last year, they marked his first at the position since 2013.

Overall, Carpenter’s message was one excited about a multifaceted role, willing to accept whatever the team needs from him in order to win.

“I kind of look at it like I'm on a one-day contract every day I come here,” Carpenter said. “I’ve got to go out and earn that role and earn that playing time and earn the right to be here, right to put on this uniform. That's my mindset.”