I would imagine there is a lot of pressure on a rookie to get his first major league hit right away. The more AB’s that go by without getting a hit, the more the pressure mounts.
In the case of Oakland A’s OF Chris Carter, the pressure must have been tremendous. The top prospect started his major league career 0-for-33. That’s right. He went zero for his first 33. That must have been brutal for Carter.
Carter finally broke through last night against the Chicago White Sox. In the bottom of the seventh, Carter singled to left off of Scott Linebrink. Carter is now officially 1-for-34.
The A’s have built themselves a young, solid rotation with Trevor Cahill, Gio Gonzalez, Dallas Braden, and Brett Anderson. Now they need some guys who can hit the ball and drive in runs on a consistent basis. Billy Beane and company are hoping Carter becomes one of those guys.
The A’s desperately need some power at the major league level and Carter has hit 25 plus HR’s the last four years in the minors. The A’s only have three guys who have hit more than 10 HR’s this season.
Once Carter learns the strike zone (striking out over 38 percent of the time) and learns the pitchers of the American League West, I believe he will be a major and much needed power source for the A’s.
Here are some other facts about Chris Carter…
Age: 23
Bats: Right
Throws: Right
College: None. Went to Sierra Vista High School in Las Vegas, NV
Drafted: 15th round of the 2005 Draft by the Chicago White Sox
Minor League Stats:
2005 Rookie: .283/.350/.485 with 10 HR’s and 17 doubles in 65 games
2006 Rookie & High Single A: .273/.373/.522 with 16 HR’s and 24 doubles in 82 games
2007 Single A: .291/.383/.522 with 25 HR’s and 27 doubles in 126 games
2008 High Single A: .259/.361/.569 with 39 HR’s and 32 doubles in 137 games
2009 Double A & Triple A: .329/.422/.570 with 28 HR’s and 43 doubles in 138 games
2010 Triple A: .258/.365/.529 with 31 HR’s and 29 doubles in 125 games
Keith Law Ranking and Analysis
Ranking: No. 33 out of 100 best prospects in baseball in 2010
Analysis: “Carter has made impressive strides since his arrival in the Oakland organization as a power-or-nothing hitter with a long swing and no defensive value, and while he’s still probably a solid DH with thump, he has a chance to contribute in a few different ways. He made a concerted effort to improve his walks without increasing his strikeouts, becoming more selective while cutting down on his normal swing as part of the process.
If he gets a pitch to drive, he’ll load his hands a little deeper to give him more leverage and bring his plus power back out of storage. Carter is limited defensively and will probably max out as a fringe-average first baseman, although the positional logjam in Oakland may make him a DH by default.
Even in Oakland’s ballpark he should be good for 30 homers a year and a solid on-base percentage by his peak.”
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