ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - Matt Carpenter described the recent seasons of his 11-years MLB career as "basically fell off a cliff." He went from finishing 9th in NL MVP voting in 2018, to back-to-back seasons of hitting below .190 just three years later.
The former St. Louis Cardinals slugger admitted that one reason for the decline may have been his unwillingness to change. He spoke to The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal recently and stated some regret for not listening to Cardinals hitting coach Jeff Albert.
"I just never bought into (analytics) like I should have," Carpenter told The Athletic.
But this offseason, hoping to sign a new contract, he's changing everything.
He's had conversations with 2010 NL MVP from the Cincinnati Reds, Joey Votto. He went to California to work with former a MLB hitting coach who they call “The Oracle of Santa Clarita.” He went to get help with is swing from former Cardinals teammate Matt Holliday in Oklahoma. And he's working with bat company Marucci on ultra-specific swing analysis.
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He's hoping the likely addition of the designated hitter in the NL will open up jobs for him. But coming out of a lockout and after two abysmal offensive seasons, he's got his work cut out for him.
At Marucci, he learned his strength was above-average for MLB hitters, but his swing analytics were far behind his peers.
"It wasn’t aging. It was flat-out my swing had gotten out of sorts,” Carpenter told The Athletic.
He’s now switched to a bat that’s the same length, but three-tenths of an ounce heavier, with more weight in the barrel.
The swing guru in California, Tim Laker, was recommended to him by former Cardinals teammate Paul Goldschmidt. Nolan Arenado was also there working with Laker at the time. They worked on both is swing path and balance so he could shorten his stroke and keep the barrel of his bat in the zone longer.
Laker was brutally honest about what he saw, saying "you wouldn’t have guessed he was a big leaguer who has had the kind of success he has. It was that far gone." But Arenado still has faith that Carpenter will find his way back.
"I believe in my heart he’s got a lot left,” Arenado told The Athletic. “He’s trying to get back to who he is. And with the work I saw him do, I believe he will.”
Carpenter said he's "more confident about where I'm at and where my swing is than I have been in years, maybe ever."
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