Chris Carpenter, baseball player, 1997-2012

Chris Carpenter

Born: 4/27/1975 in Exeter, NH, USA

MLB Debut: 1997-05-12 | Final Game: 2012-10-02

Bats: R | Throws: R | Height: 6'6" | Weight: 230 lbs

Full name: Christopher John Carpenter

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Biography

Chris Carpenter, born in 1975, was a prominent pitcher in Major League Baseball, with a career spanning from 1997 to 2012. He was known for his powerful right arm and fierce competitive spirit, establishing himself as a cornerstone of the St. Louis Cardinals' pitching staff during the 2000s. Carpenter finished his career with a record of 144-94 and an earned run average (ERA) of 3.76, solidifying his reputation as a reliable starter capable of dominating games. Throughout his career, Carpenter was recognized for his exceptional talent, earning three All-Star selections and winning the coveted Cy Young Award, which highlighted his status among the elite pitchers of his era. With a total of 1,697 strikeouts, he demonstrated a remarkable ability to overpower hitters, becoming a key figure in the Cardinals' success, including their World Series championship in 2006. Carpenter's contributions to the game and his impact on the pitching landscape remain significant, as he is remembered for his work ethic, resilience, and pivotal role in a dynamic era of baseball.

Career Pitching Statistics

W L G GS CG SHO SV IP H ER HR BB SO ERA Pitcher PIV
144 94 350 332 33 15 0 2219.3 2205 927 220 627 1697 3.76 0

Career ERA 3.76 vs. league average 4.36 across their career seasons — 13.8% better than league average.

Season-by-Season Pitching

Year Team Lg W L G GS CG SHO SV IP H ER BB SO ERA Lg ERA Pitcher PIV
1997 TOR AL 3 7 14 13 1 1 0 81.3 108 46 37 55 5.09 4.39 (-16%) 155.7
1998 TOR AL 12 7 33 24 1 1 0 175.0 177 85 61 136 4.37 4.43 (+1%) 1714.2
1999 TOR AL 9 8 24 24 4 1 0 150.0 177 73 48 106 4.38 4.71 (+7%) 2246.6
2000 TOR AL 10 12 34 27 2 0 0 175.3 204 122 83 113 6.26 4.77 (-31%) -3659.0
2001 TOR AL 11 11 34 34 3 2 0 215.7 229 98 75 157 4.09 4.42 (+7%) -1067.5
2002 TOR AL 4 5 13 13 1 0 0 73.3 89 43 27 45 5.28 4.28 (-23%) -1256.0
2004 STL NL 15 5 28 28 1 0 0 182.0 169 70 38 152 3.46 4.46 (+22%) -
2005 STL NL 21 5 33 33 7 4 0 241.7 204 76 51 213 2.83 4.29 (+34%) -
2006 STL NL 15 8 32 32 5 3 0 221.7 194 76 43 184 3.09 4.53 (+32%) -
2007 STL NL 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 6.0 9 5 1 3 7.50 — -
2008 STL NL 0 1 4 3 0 0 0 15.3 16 3 4 7 1.76 4.32 (+59%) -
2009 STL NL 17 4 28 28 3 1 0 192.7 156 48 38 144 2.24 4.32 (+48%) -
2010 STL NL 16 9 35 35 1 0 0 235.0 214 84 63 179 3.22 4.08 (+21%) -
2011 STL NL 11 9 34 34 4 2 0 237.3 243 91 55 191 3.45 3.94 (+12%) -
2012 STL NL 0 2 3 3 0 0 0 17.0 16 7 3 12 3.71 4.01 (+8%) -

Career Batting Statistics

G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB SO AVG OBP SLG OPS PIV
350 439 18 52 8 0 2 21 0 12 144 0.118 0.145 0.150 0.296 -4370.0

Career AVG .118 vs. league average .264 across their career seasons — 55.1% below league average.

Career OBP .145 vs. league average .333 across their career seasons — 56.3% below league average.

Career SLG .150 vs. league average .420 across their career seasons — 64.2% below league average.

Career OPS 0.296 vs. league average 0.753 across their career seasons — 60.7% below league average.

Season-by-Season Batting

Year Team Lg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB SO AVG Lg AVG Lg OBP Lg SLG Lg OPS PIV
1997 TOR AL 14 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 — — — — 0.0
1998 TOR AL 33 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.000 — — — — 0.0
1999 TOR AL 24 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0.000 — — — — 0.0
2000 TOR AL 34 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.000 — — — — 0.0
2001 TOR AL 34 6 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0.167 — — — — 0.0
2002 TOR AL 13 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1.000 — — — — 0.0
2004 STL NL 28 62 1 5 0 0 0 1 0 1 21 0.081 .266 (-70%) .335 (-72%) .427 (-81%) .762 (-77%) -833.3
2005 STL NL 33 77 7 5 2 0 0 2 0 5 23 0.065 .264 (-75%) .330 (-64%) .418 (-78%) .749 (-72%) -983.7
2006 STL NL 32 71 2 9 0 0 0 2 0 0 27 0.127 .269 (-53%) .336 (-62%) .431 (-71%) .768 (-67%) -837.5
2007 STL NL 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.000 — — — — 0.0
2008 STL NL 4 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0.000 — — — — 0.0
2009 STL NL 28 63 3 11 3 0 1 7 0 2 13 0.175 .262 (-33%) .332 (-36%) .417 (-35%) .750 (-36%) -397.9
2010 STL NL 35 72 2 8 0 0 1 4 0 1 25 0.111 .257 (-57%) .325 (-58%) .402 (-62%) .728 (-60%) -741.7
2011 STL NL 34 71 2 11 3 0 0 5 0 2 25 0.155 .255 (-39%) .320 (-44%) .399 (-51%) .719 (-48%) -576.0
2012 STL NL 3 6 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0.167 — — — — 0.0

Postseason Statistics

Playoff Career Batting

G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO AVG
18 37 0 6 2 0 0 2 0 12 0.162

Playoff Batting by Year

Year Round Team G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO AVG
2012 NLCS SLN 2 2 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 0.500
2012 NLDS1 SLN 1 3 0 2 1 0 0 0 0 1 0.667
2011 NLCS SLN 1 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.500
2011 NLDS1 SLN 2 4 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.250
2011 WS SLN 3 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0.000
2009 NLDS1 SLN 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0.000
2006 NLCS SLN 2 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.000
2006 NLDS2 SLN 2 5 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 0.200
2006 WS SLN 1 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.000
2005 NLCS SLN 2 4 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0.000
2005 NLDS1 SLN 1 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.000

Playoff Career Pitching

W L G GS SV IP H ER BB SO ERA
10 4 18 18 0 108.0 104 36 36 68 3.00

Playoff Pitching by Year

Year Round Team W L G GS SV IP H ER BB SO ERA
2012 NLCS SLN 0 2 2 2 0 8.0 12 4 4 7 4.50
2012 NLDS1 SLN 1 0 1 1 0 5.7 7 0 2 2 0.00
2011 NLCS SLN 1 0 1 1 0 5.0 6 3 3 3 5.40
2011 NLDS1 SLN 1 0 2 2 0 12.0 8 4 3 5 3.00
2011 WS SLN 2 0 3 3 0 19.0 17 6 5 13 2.84
2009 NLDS1 SLN 0 1 1 1 0 5.0 9 4 4 3 7.20
2006 NLCS SLN 0 1 2 2 0 11.0 13 7 4 5 5.73
2006 NLDS2 SLN 2 0 2 2 0 13.3 12 3 4 12 2.02
2006 WS SLN 1 0 1 1 0 8.0 3 0 0 6 0.00
2005 NLCS SLN 1 0 2 2 0 15.0 14 5 4 9 3.00
2005 NLDS1 SLN 1 0 1 1 0 6.0 3 0 3 3 0.00

Fielding Statistics

Career Fielding Totals by Position

Position G GS PO A E DP
P 350 332 185 251 10 32

Season-by-Season Fielding

Year Team Pos G GS PO A E DP
1997 TOR P 14 13 7 5 1 1
1998 TOR P 33 24 20 13 1 2
1999 TOR P 24 24 10 15 1 3
2000 TOR P 34 27 7 12 1 2
2001 TOR P 34 34 11 25 0 6
2002 TOR P 13 13 7 3 0 0
2004 SLN P 28 28 12 34 1 4
2005 SLN P 33 33 15 40 1 2
2006 SLN P 32 32 11 25 0 3
2007 SLN P 1 1 1 1 0 0
2008 SLN P 4 3 0 5 0 0
2009 SLN P 28 28 21 19 0 2
2010 SLN P 35 35 35 29 1 4
2011 SLN P 34 34 28 23 3 3
2012 SLN P 3 3 0 2 0 0

Career Games by Position

Position Games
Pitcher 350

Awards & Honors

Year Award Notes
2009 MLB Players Choice Comeback Player
2009 Pitcher of the Month August
2009 TSN Comeback Player of the Year
2006 MLB Players Choice Outstanding Pitcher
2006 Player of the Week Week of 2006-07-15
2006 Player of the Week Week of 2006-09-16
2006 Player of the Week Week of 2006-08-19
2006 TSN Pitcher of the Year
2005 Cy Young Award
2005 MLB Players Choice Outstanding Pitcher
2005 Player of the Week Week of 2005-09-03
2005 This Year in Baseball Starter of the Year MLB.com GIBBY
2005 TSN Pitcher of the Year
2004 MLB Players Choice Comeback Player
2004 TSN Comeback Player of the Year

Salary History

Year Team League Salary
2012 SLN NL $8,500,000
2010 SLN NL $15,840,971
2009 SLN NL $13,302,583
2008 SLN NL $10,500,000
2007 SLN NL $8,500,000
2006 SLN NL $5,000,000
2005 SLN NL $2,000,000
2004 SLN NL $300,000
2003 SLN NL $300,000
2002 TOR AL $3,450,000
2001 TOR AL $2,583,333
2000 TOR AL $733,333
1999 TOR AL $483,333
1998 TOR AL $190,000
1997 TOR AL $150,000
Total Career Earnings $71,833,553

Award Voting History

Year Award League Finish Points Won Points Max Votes First
2009 Cy Young Award NL 2nd 94.0 160 9
2009 Most Valuable Player NL 14th 25.0 448 0
2006 Cy Young Award NL 3rd 63.0 160 2
2006 Most Valuable Player NL 19th 4.0 448 0
2005 Cy Young Award NL 1st 132.0 160 19
2005 Most Valuable Player NL 8th 52.0 448 0