WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — So much about the place is the way he remembers it. The walk from the parking lot to the clubhouse is the same, and the quiet of being the earliest of birds is the same. His locker is in the same spot — through the door, first on the left. The uniform has a new sheer, but No. 13 is the same and there’s still something about how the Birds on the Bat fit.
His family knows well the way to the ballpark and the best table at their favorite restaurants. Almost everything about Matt Carpenter’s return to the Cardinals and spring training for the first time since 2021 is familiar.
Except the distress.
What once engulfed him is gone.
“Back then, I could see the writing on the wall for my time here,†Carpenter said outside the team’s clubhouse, steps from his locker Wednesday afternoon. “Look, in my eyes, I had dreams of running the table in St. Louis — playing my whole career here, finishing on a good note, playing out that contract, positively. Even performing well enough to continue. And then it just did not happen. There was a lot of sadness, a lot of hurt, a lot of disappointment. I gave it everything I had. Time ...â€
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He paused.
“Time heals lots of different things.â€
Back where it all began, Carpenter is rewriting his ending with the Cardinals this spring, and he’s having an absolute blast.
Multiple players have walked into manager Oliver Marmol’s office to mention a piece of advice they got that day from Carpenter. He’s talking swing mechanics one minute with Lars Nootbaar and huddled with Masyn Winn about growing up in Texas the next. Oh, and he’s hitting. Carpenter singled in his first at-bat Wednesday night, doubled later and finished 2 for 2 with an RBI in the Cardinals’ 13-4 victory against Washington at CACTI Park of the Palm Beaches. He’s sitting on .714 for his slugging percentage this spring to go with a .381 batting average in 21 at-bats, and due to injuries elsewhere, he could be the team’s opening day designated hitter. He’ll almost certainly start the home opener.
He’s in the same location as three years ago, but Carpenter is a long way from that player in 2021 without a position, without a swing and without a future as a Cardinal.
“He was here for so long, he performed here so well, and for him to be back here swinging it like he is — I know he’s enjoying himself,†said Winn, the rookie shortstop with the locker beside Carpenter’s. “I think he loves wearing the birds on the chest.â€
Love is also the feeling Carpenter described.
“What I didn’t realize at the time of why I wanted to finish here so much is why I’m enjoying it so much now,†Carpenter said. “It’s because you get to the point of a career where I’m at and you’re in an organization that you care so deeply about. And you see young players come up and you have the opportunity to have conversations with them or offer some wisdom, just spend time with them. It is different than other places I could be. It’s family. You care a little bit more about someone who is a St. Louis Cardinal.â€
Carpenter, now 38, launched his career with the Cardinals during a spring training when then-manager Tony La Russa said he couldn’t beat the young player to the weight room in the morning and couldn’t keep him out of the lineup that afternoon. Within two years, Carpenter was on his way to becoming one of the most productive leadoff hitters in the National League and a three-time All-Star, each time at a different position. He debuted in 2011, won a Silver Slugger in 2013 and finished fourth in the MVP voting. That same year, he broke Stan Musial’s club record with 55 doubles. In 2018, Carpenter let loose the slugging in his swing and neared the end of the season leading the NL in homers on his way to a career-best 36.
He was a blend of power, two-strike prowess and on-base patience rarely seen at the leadoff spot, and the Cardinals rewarded him with a two-year, $39 million extension. Ownership considered him a “legacy†player and did not want him to leave.
He figured the first logo he wore in the majors would be his last.
This started to unravel from there. From 2020 to 2021, the two years included in the extension, Carpenter hit .176 with only 61 hits and 125 strikeouts.
“I hate letting people down, and I felt like I had that big year in 2018, signed the extension and there were expectations for me to continue playing at that level,†Carpenter said when the interview resumed Wednesday evening as he walked out onto CACTI Park. “And I didn’t. I felt the weight of that was also added stress — felt like I was letting ownership down, the fans down, my teammates down, myself down. So that added a lot of stress. That made it all the more frustrating that I wasn’t playing and wasn’t playing well.â€
The nadir came in the spring of 2021.
A few weeks before camp, the Cardinals traded for Nolan Arenado, the finest third baseman in the game. Both of the positions Carpenter played were now manned by MVP-caliber players, and the NL did not yet have the designated hitter. His swing misbehaved, his power unplugged and his back ached at times. He said he “was miserable, and a lot of that was self-inflicted, feeling sorry for myself.†That spring, he had two hits — total. He hit .054. He figured it would be his last spring with the Cardinals, and he was right.
For a while.
His route back began in the Bronx, where in 2022 Carpenter got a chance with the Yankees to prove what he felt — “there was more in the tank.†He hit .305 with a .727 slugging percentage and a .412 on-base percentage in 47 games for the Yankees. That included a series in St. Louis — his first as a visitor — and he thought that was closure. He said later that he “never thought I was going to take another at-bat in St. Louis.†The success in pinstripes turned into a two-year deal with San Diego that did not go as imagined. Limited playing time and limited production combined with the Padres’ limited finances this winter to force a trade to unload his salary.
Atlanta acquired him but had no interest in keeping him, and rather than ship him somewhere he did not want to be, Atlanta released him.
Carpenter and his agent made a list of possible teams.
The Cardinals were not on it.
And that was when they called with an offer.
Still being paid partially by Atlanta, Carpenter signed a one-year deal with the Cardinals and bought into their idea for his role: a bat off the bench, a voice in the clubhouse.
He felt he had something to give in both spots.
“One of the reasons why I’ve enjoyed this so much is I’ve had a lot of stretches where I was really good and I’ve had a lot of stretches where I really struggled, and I think part of the enjoyment is there is no expectation this season,†Carpenter said. “Not a lot of people are expecting much from me as a player. The expectations are for me to be a good presence in the clubhouse. But those struggles made me into who I am as a player. I think some of the biggest impact conversations I’ve had with some of the younger guys is not about success. It’s about hard times.â€
Said Marmol, Carpenter’s roommate in the minors: “He’s at a part in his career now where he sees the field, he sees the clubhouse, he sees the moving parts, he sees who needs a conversation, who doesn’t. The timing has been really good.â€
That place where Carpenter once only heard a clock ticking toward his departure is never where he thought he’d wind up again.
He could not be happier.
“I am so confident I’ll be able to do it, and I know what my role is,†Carpenter said. “I’m a big believer in when you’re enjoying your work and you come to work every day and you love the people you’re with and you’re having fun, then it’s going to work out. You’re going to perform well. I’m just at peace with where my career is. I love what this year is and what it’s all about for us, and I’m having such fun doing it.â€