Chris Carpenter

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Chris Carpenter

St. Louis Cardinals — No. 29
Starting pitcher
Born: April 27, 1975 (1975-04-27) (age 33)
Bats: Right	Throws: Right
Major League Baseball debut
May 12, 1997 for the Toronto Blue Jays
Selected MLB statistics (through 2007)
Win-Loss	100-69
Earned Run Average	4.10
Strikeouts	1,164
Teams
Toronto Blue Jays (1997-2002) St. Louis Cardinals (2004-present)

Christopher John Carpenter (born April 27, 1975 in Exeter, New Hampshire) is a starting pitcher in Major League Baseball who has played for the St. Louis Cardinals since 2003, and is currently signed with the team until the 2011 season, with a club option for 2012.^[1] Carpenter was 22 years old and a highly-regarded prospect when he broke into the majors in 1997 with the Toronto Blue Jays. He stayed with Toronto until after the 2002 season.

As of 2005, Carpenter resides in Bedford, New Hampshire. He is married to his wife, Alyson. He also has a son (Sam) and a daughter (Ava).

[edit] Minor Leagues

Chris began his pro career with the Medicine Hat Jays of the short-season Pioneer League in 1994. In his debut against the Great Falls Dodgers, he tossed six scoreless innings of one-hit ball, fanning nine along the way. Chris ended up with a mark of 6-3 and turned in the league’s third-lowest ERA. He was also picked as the PL’s #3 prospect by league managers, behind Aaron Boone and Ray Brown.

[edit] Career with St. Louis

The Cardinals signed Carpenter prior to the 2003 season. He was forced to sit out the entire 2003 season due to a torn labrum. However, Carpenter came back with an impressive 2004, helping the Cardinals win the National League pennant for the first time since 1987. In September, Carpenter was benched with a nerve problem in his right biceps, ending his season and causing him to miss the 2004 World Series.

In 2005, Carpenter posted his best year to date. He set career bests in ERA (2.83), strikeouts (213), innings pitched (241.7), complete games (7) and shutouts (4) while amassing a 21-5 record for the Division Champion Cardinals. While not a leader in any one statistical category in 2005, he was selected over Dontrelle Willis as the National League Cy Young Award winner. He also was selected as the starter for the National League in the 2005 All Star game.

This time, Carpenter was healthy for the post-season. Although the Cardinals lost to the Houston Astros in the National League Championship Series, he pitched well throughout the postseason, going 2-0 with a 2.14 ERA in 21 innings against the San Diego Padres and Houston.

Carpenter continued pitching well throughout the 2006 season, achieving career feats such as striking out a career high 13 batters on June 13, 2006 against the Pittsburgh Pirates^[2]and winning his 100th career game on September 16, 2006 beating the San Francisco Giants 6-1.^[3] Carpenter became the third member of the St. Louis Cardinals pitching staff to get his 100th career win in 2006, after Jeff Suppan and Mark Mulder. Carpenter was also voted on the 2006 All-Star game, and finished third in the Cy Young Award voting behind Brandon Webb and Trevor Hoffman.^[4]

Carpenter won his first career World Series start in Game 3 against the Detroit Tigers on October 24, 2006 at Busch Stadium in St. Louis, Missouri by pitching eight innings and allowing no runs on three hits. In eight career post-season starts, he has a 5-1 record with a 2.53 ERA in 53.3 innings.

On December 4, 2006 the Cardinals announced they had re-signed Carpenter to a five-year, $65 million deal, keeping Carpenter with the team through 2011, with a $12 million option for 2012.^[5]

In 2007, Carpenter pitched only one game. After an opening day loss to the New York Mets, Carpenter was sidelined with elbow problems and the team announced on May 5, 2007 that he would need arthroscopic surgery to trim bone spurs. As Carpenter was attempting to return from elbow surgery, further problems developed and on July 19, 2007 the Cardinals announced that his season was over. Carpenter would undergo Tommy John surgery to replace a ligament in his pitching elbow and would miss the remainder of the 2007 and a significant portion of the 2008 season.^[6]

[edit] Pitching style

Carpenter is known to have five quality pitches and throws two and four-seam fastballs in the 93-97 mph range consistently. He is known to have one of the best curveballs in baseball and has excellent command over his slider and circle-change up.^[7] He is known as being unpredictable to opposing batters in his pitching pattern, as he will throw any of his pitches at any time.

Carpenter has also shown his ability to work effectively on days when he doesn't have his best stuff.

[edit] Stats

[edit] Honors

• 2004 Comeback Player of the Year - The Sporting News and MLBPA
• 2005-2007 All-Star selection
• 2005 Pitcher of the Year - The Sporting News
• 2005 Cy Young Award for the NL

[edit] Trivia

Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines. The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.

• Pitched for the Trinity High School (Manchester) Pioneers while living in Raymond, New Hampshire during his high school years.
• Prior to becoming one of the prominent pitchers in baseball, Carpenter was often confused with former St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Cris Carpenter.
• Carpenter's uncle owns a small Sports Collectibles store in Wells, Maine

[edit] References

1. ^ Yahoo! Sports, Carpenter and Cardinals agree to new five-year contract. Golen, Jimmy
2. ^ Notes on Carpenter's 13K game
3. ^ Box Score of Carpenter's 100th victory
4. ^ Diamondbacks' Webb Wins N.L. Cy Young Award
5. ^ Cards reward Carpenter with $65M extension
6. ^ USA Today: Carpenter To Have Tommy John Surgery, Out for Season
7. ^ Carpenter's scouting report

7. http://www.cbc.ca/sports/story/2002/09/02/carpenter020902.html

[edit] External links

• Career statistics and player information from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball-Reference, or The Baseball Cube
• Chris Carpenter page at stlcardinals.scout.com