Veteran infielder Matt Carpenter announced his retirement on Sports Spectrum’s Get In The Game podcast (h/t to Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch) this morning.
“I wanted to take this opportunity on this podcast, here with you, and officially announce my retirement from baseball. I was very fortunate enough to play for some great organizations, and had quite a thrill being able to don the St. Louis Cardinals logo for many years, a brief stint with the New York Yankees, and also the San Diego Padres.” Carpenter told former MLB pitcher Scott Linebrink. Carpenter went on to thank his family, before adding that he’s “excited for what’s next.”
A veteran of 14 MLB seasons, Carpenter was open to continuing his career in 2025 as recently as this past September. That was following a season with the Cardinals where he battled injuries and struck out at a 32.5% clip but still produced a roughly average 95 wRC+ across 157 plate appearances in a part-time role. That sort of production was still enough to make Carpenter a solid bench piece, though with the Cardinals’ attempted pivot towards providing young players more opportunities this year a reunion between the 39-year-old and his longtime club evidently wasn’t in the cards.
Carpenter spent 12 of his 14 seasons in the big leagues in St. Louis after the Cardinals drafted as their 13th-round selection in the 2009 draft. He made it to the big leagues just two years later for a seven-game cup of coffee, but his career began in earnest during his 2012 campaign. As a 26-year-old rookie that year, Carpenter took to hitting in the majors almost right away. He hit an impressive .294/.365/.463 in 114 games that year while splitting time between first base, second base, third base, and both outfield corners. That show of versatility was enough to earn Carpenter a sixth-place finish in Rookie of the Year voting despite the fact that he had yet to generate the type of power he would later in his career, clubbing just six homers in 340 trips to the plate.
More to come.