JUPITER, Fla. -- When it finally came time for reflection, Matt Carpenter looked at his 2017 season and shook his head. The sections of his slash line stood out like snapshots of three different stories, written in a language he was raised on but lost somewhere along the way.
.241/.384/.451.
The first number colored Carpenter as the kind of hitter he was embarrassed he had become. The next painted him as near-elite. The third hinted that, at age 32, time could be catching up with him.