Cardinals third baseman Matt Carpenter has at least one strikeout in five of his last six games and has totaled 32 through 32 games, which is well ahead of the pace he set last season with 98 strikeouts in 157 games.
"He has such a good eye and knows his zone (but) those borderlines are getting called right now," manager Mike Matheny said, per the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. "You see Carp fouling off tough pitches. I see him fouling off some pitches that he would normally square up a little more. Having a high pitch count isn’t necessarily a good thing when you’re getting pitches you can drive."
Carpenter, who is averaging 4.24 pitches per at-bat, is hitting .264 with a .314 slugging percentage after batting .318 with a .481 slugging percentage last season. Carpenter said he's still not comfortable yet with his swing.
"That’s the beauty of this game and especially my skill set -- even if my swing is just OK I can be productive too, get on base, take a walk, find a way to squeak a base hit in," Carpenter said. "That’s kind of been the story of my season so far. The swing has not felt great, yet. I’m trying to find a way to work counts, get good pitches and battle. The (swing) wasn’t great. It didn’t feel great. But in terms of being competitive, that’s one thing you can do everyday."