Cleveland — It seems like a no-brainer now. Of course, left-handed hitting Kerry Carpenter was in the starting lineup Sunday, even against Cleveland’s left-handed starter Logan Allen.
Why wouldn’t he be, right? He entered the game slashing .400/.450/.782 with an eye-popping 1.232 OPS with 14 runs scored, six home runs and 11 RBIs over the last 15 games.
Fact is, though, he wasn’t getting starts against lefties earlier in the season. He was getting pinch-hit for in games when opponents brought in a lefty reliever. That gaudy slash-line, his 17 homers on the season, it represents exactly how far Carpenter has come this year.
From platoon outfielder to everyday fixture.
“His development this year has been impressive,” manager AJ Hinch said before the game. “It started with him and his work and how he’s received messages and challenges from the coaches.”
In other words, Hinch isn’t apologizing for the early matchup-based usage. Far from it.
“Hitting for him against lefties, quite honestly, was necessary,” he said. “It was necessary to one, build his confidence at this level. Two, we had good matchups. Three, to let him know you have to earn your at-bats to be an everyday player here.”
Carpenter has only had 47 plate appearances against lefties, but he’s hardly been overmatached. He’s hitting .244 with a .390 on-base percentage against them with two homers and nine RBI.
The other component, Carpenter had to prove he could play the outfield competently.
“That was the next challenge for him,” Hinch said. “My hope is that we don’t have an everyday DH all the time. Being able to keep guys in the lineup and move them around is important. That only happens if guys get better on defense and we’re not mortgaging runs every time the ball is hit in their area.”
That has not been a problem. The more Carpenter has played in right field, the better he’s got. He took an extra base away from Cleveland’s Gabriel Arias on Saturday, quickly getting to a slicing drive down the right field line and holding him to a single.
He threw out the Twins’ Ryan Jeffers at second base at Target Field earlier in the week. He robbed Boston’s Pablo Reyes of extra bases with an incredible running catch in the right-field gap at Fenway at the start of this road trip.
“Carp’s work with George (Lombard, bench coach, outfield coach) has been really good,” Hinch said. “He’s attacking the ball like you saw last night. I’ve been proud of him taking on the challenge but also doing the work to make me leave in him against left-handed pitching and for putting time in the outfield so he’s not a mid-20s DH-type player.”
chris.mccosky@detroitnews.com
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