MLB PLAYER NEWS

Astros slugger Carter ‘not on track’

The Sports Xchange

April 22, 2015 at 4:54 am.

 

Chris Carter is struggling early in the 2015 season. (Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports)

SEATTLE — Chris Carter began Tuesday mired in a slump that would make many managers question whether to put the powerful right-handed hitter into the lineup.

“He just hasn’t gotten on track,” said Astros manager A.J. Hinch. “I think his play at first base has been very good. … His contribution on that side of the game has been very good. I think offensively he hasn’t gotten on track. The swings and misses have come in bunchs.”

Carter rewarded Hinch Tuesday night with a key RBI single in the eighth inning off Mariners left-hander Charlie Furbush. It narrowed Seattle’s lead to 3-2 before Jake Marisnick followed with an RBI single and Jose Altuve crushed the go-ahead, three-run double in Houston’s five-run frame. He finished 1-for-3 with a run and two walks to lift his season average to .089.

“Every day I come to the ballpark, I think today is the day that something is going to click for him and when he puts the ball in play with conviction, the ball usually carries out of the ballpark,” said Astros manager A.J. Hinch pregame.
Carter entered Tuesday 3-for-42 during the regular season with 19 strikeouts and four walks. But Hinch knows the slugger has that rare raw power after he hit 37 home runs for the Astros in 2014.

“Thirty-seven home runs don’t come overnight,” Hinch said. “That means he has got some impact in that bat when things are right.”