New York Yankees infielder Matt Carpenter is set to have a pretty emotional weekend as he returns to St. Louis as a Yankee. Carpenter kicked off his MLB career with the Cardinals and played in St. Louis for 11 seasons. It would be the first time ever in MLB for Carpenter to play against his former team at their home. Matt talked about his family\’s excitement and his feeling about returning to St. Louis. However, the three-time All-Star would have to separate his emotions from the games for the next three days and remember that he plays for New York now.
Carpenter clearly found it hard to hold off his oozing emotions. He talked about his five-year-old being confused about whether his dad was still a Cardinal or a Yankee. It was pretty clear that Matt Carpenter never wanted to leave St. Louis, and the Cardinals who loved him for more than a decade know it. The 36-year-old admitted that he might lose his emotion several times this weekend as the Yankees play against the Cardinals at the Busch Stadium.
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Carpenter Thinks It Would Be Hard To Hold His Emotions
Matt shared that just stepping down from the plane on Thursday and getting back to St. Louis, where it all started, was quite emotional. His family would be there, and he had not seen many Cardinal fans yet, which would be hard for him.
Carpenter had a tough end to his 11-year run with the Cardinals. He hit .186 and .169 in his final two seasons. The turnaround in form was in contrast to his performance in the first nine seasons when Matt hit 148 of his 155 home runs. He had a total OPS of .835 and showed some solid hitting in the playoffs. However, Carpenter worked hard after signing a Minor League free-agent deal with the Rangers before making his way to the Bronx stadium.
It would be the first three games since 2009 that Matt would not want the St. Louis Cardinals to win. Carpenter revealed that he religiously follows the Cardinal\’s matches when he is not playing. Carpenter reckoned that he was a great Cardinal fan. He would get right back to it after he played the three games against them as a Yankee. The 2013 Silver Slugger winner added, \”It\’s going to be weird to compete against them. But being able to separate the emotions will be a challenge.\”
Fortunately, Matt has turned his fortunes around with the Bombers this season in the MLB. He has a batting average of .322 with 15 home runs, 36 RBIs, nine doubles, and a shocking OPS of 1.226.
