Detroit Tigers’ slugger Kerry Carpenter had a good, but certainly also a very mixed season in 2024. His performance in the club’s first postseason run in a decade was a perfect microcosm as enormous success was undercut by injuries.
When last seen, the 27-year-old outfielder was busy establishing himself as a postseason terror. His ninth inning, three-run home run off ace closer Emmanuel Clase in Game 2 will be remembered as one of the great postseason home runs in franchise history. Even in their Game 5 loss to the Cleveland Guardians, Carpenter came up with a huge RBI knock while limping around with a hamstring injury suffered in the series.