Cardinals: Matt Carpenter ranked top-10 hitter in MLB

Former St. Louis Cardinals slugger Matt Carpenter was recently ranked a top-10 hitter in MLB through June 17.

Since joining the New York Yankees, former Cardinals infielder/outfielder Matt Carpenter has emerged as a revelation. In 11 games, he’s hitting .286/.412/.964 with six home runs and 13 RBI, and is drawing praise as an elite under-the-radar acquisition by general manager Brian Cashman.

And on Friday, Carpenter was ranked as a top-10 hitter in MLB.com’s latest power rankings. Carpenter came in No. 9, just ahead of Mets slugger Pete Alonso. The rest of the list goes as follows: Aaron Judge, Yordan Alvarez, Paul Goldschmidt, Bryce Harper, Byron Buxton, Ronald Acuna Jr., Mike Trout, Jose Ramirez and then Carpenter.

Who could have seen that coming?

While I believed at the time that the Cardinals should have made a call to Carpenter, considering Paul DeJong’s struggles and their relative infield struggles, they did not show any interest. Among the other teams who competed for his services included the Boston Red Sox and Atlanta Braves, according to Jon Heyman of the New York Post. But the Yankees’ willingness to offer a major-league contract was the deciding factor in Carpenter going to the Bronx.

So too did the Yankees’ hitter friendly stadium, which plays well with Carpenter’s swing. His success is not just tied to that, of course, but his stats have been aided by the ballpark. But for Carpenter, who was hitting a mediocre .169/.305/.275 last season in St. Louis, this is about as strong of a bounce back performance as he could have asked for.

Carpenter believed that he could do it. Despite his struggles, he always expressed confidence that he would bounce back. Now, he’s a key piece on the team that is the favorite to win the World Series.