NEW YORK – New York Yankees’ first baseman Chris Carter has been notorious for much of this season because of his inability to hit the ball with any consistency. Yankees’ fans have harped on the power-hitting Carter but do not seem to realize that he was brought in by general manager Brian Cashman to be a backup for a whopping three million dollars.
Chris Carter and Chase Headley continue to go shot-for-shot on most hated Yankee this season.
— Andrew (@Andrew_Rotondi) June 14, 2017
To put things into perspective, Carter has performed exactly how he has his entire career: barely above the Mendoza-line and striking out more times than he gets a hit. Despite his poor play, it is a step up from what Greg Bird did in his short time before getting injured. Bird’s slash line was horrendous prior to his injury: .100/.250/.200. – and he still is not healthy so we will not be seeing him any time soon.
Carter’s slash line looks as followed: 209/.293/.409 – is it great? No. But Carter has come through with clutch home runs that simply go ignored in the midst of his mediocre season. Every time Carter does something meaningful, I’ll look on social media and see, “Wow he finally did something beneficial.” My question for fans is, what the hell were you expecting? Carter is a career .218 hitter who is doing exactly what he has done his whole tenure in the MLB. In his best season, he hit .227 with 37 home runs and 88 runs batted in.
My point being is that the Yankees did not bring Carter in to be the next Lou Gehrig or Babe Ruth. He was brought in to be a back up first baseman and provide pop in the Yankees’ lineup, which he has successfully done. “I know people are a little down on him, but he has 20 RBIs. He has not played everyday,” Yankees’ manager Joe Girardi said. “Maybe if he played every day up to this point, he would have 40 RBIs. Is he capable of hitting more? Yes, and I understand that. But he’s a guy that can run off a hot streak and do well.”
Carter is looking to build on his success from the west-coast road trip. He is hitting 4-for-22 with 2 home runs over the six games that have been played.
Chris Carter is starting to crank up the power over his last 10 games ?#YANKSonYES pic.twitter.com/eaemXOiLJk
— YES Network (@YESNetwork) June 17, 2017
“It’s nice to play a little bit more than I was earlier in the season,” Carter said. “I’m happy to have this opportunity to play more, and hopefully I can keep getting big hits in situations like that and go from there.”
At the end of the day, Yankees’ fans need to give Carter a break. He is not a stellar player by any means but he is getting the job done, and performing exactly the way he has his entire career.
If you want to connect with Dean Bibens, email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter @DeanBibens.
