Matt Carpenter pulled zero punches Monday as he recapped his career-worst 2019 season.
He explained feeling like he was oscillating between being helpless at the plate and "trying to save a season with one swing." He described how he has added strength and revisited his swing in an attempt to swap fly balls for line drives that beat the shift. Actions, he stressed, will speak louder than words.
"I want to earn my good graces with our fans and even my teammates to show them I can still be an elite hitter," Carpenter said.
It was from that humbled and motivated vantage point that Carpenter shared how hard it is to hit when nothing is going right, and how big of a difference it would have made to have the kind of edge Major League Commissioner Rob Manfred found the Houston Astros had during their 2017 World Series championship run and in parts of the 2018 season that followed.