Houston Astros’ Chris Carter Is Not the Same Hitter At Home


Chris Carter Houston Astros

Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

While the Houston Astros are on their major league best six game win streak, Chris Carter has been dropping bombs. The problem is that the Astros and Carter are returning home. For many players, they’re happy to return to their home ball park, but for the Astros DH, it’s not such a happy homecoming. Carter is a big, strong man, there is no doubt about that, but something happens when he is in the hitter friendly confines of Minute Maid Park. I think the Crawford Boxes may be in his head.

All you have to do is watch a few games of the Astros at Minute Maid Park and then when they’re on a road trip to notice that Carter is a completely different hitter. I thought about this extensively last night, and I came to a conclusion. Carter is trying to elevate and pull every single pitch he sees out of the park when he’s at Minute Maid Park. He is strong enough to hit it out of the park on any pitch, but it’s obvious he is trying that in Houston. With the Crawford Boxes peering in at you, any right handed hitter has to think about pulling it out of the park.

The evidence for this theory is right in front of our eyes. The good people at baseballreference.com have it all. While doing my research, I checked his home road splits, and they are absolutely nuts. At home, Carter has a batting slash line (BA/OBP/SLG) of .169/.236/.319 with four home runs and 12 RBI. That’s pretty terrible, but remember, I said he was a different hitter on the road. In fact, he’s been a monster. His road slash line is .289/.369/.567 with eight home runs and 20 RBI. Those are stats no one would mind having.

As Carter figures out his way around Minute Maid Park, he will certainly become a more consistent hitter and will more than likely hit a few more home runs in Houston. Hopefully Carter can figure it out at home soon, because the the Astros are fixing to put the longest, active winning streak in Major League Baseball on the line against the Baltimore Orioles.


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