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Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Dispatch has a great article on Carpenter, who has been working hard in his hometown of Prosper, Texas.
He hit .294 in 296 at-bats with 46 RBIs, a .463 slugging percentage, and then provided a prominent jolt in October. When Carlos Beltran strained his knee in the first inning of Game 3 of the National League championship series, Carpenter stepped in and, in his first at-bat, provided a two-out, two-run home run that created the 3-1 victory.
Manager Mike Matheny described Carpenter then as he did during the season - as an "offensive spark." The second base project is an attempt to kindle it."There were quite a few times that we were looking for ways to get him into the lineup," Matheny said. "He was a catalyst for us. His versatility would give us a lot of options."
Carp is a fantastic success story for TCU Baseball, another in a line of great Major Leaguer's to come out of TCU Baseball. If he locks down the position, he will be the only full time MLB position player for the Frogs, until Chad Huffman or Matt Curry break back into a role in the bigs.