Hard work helped Matt Carpenter regain his confidence and stroke for Yankees 

How did he do it? 

How did Matt Carpenter go from three-time All-Star to seemingly washed up in St. Louis to hitting six home runs in his first 10 games for the Yankees, including two in Sunday’s 18-4 drubbing of the Cubs? 

Hard work. And a lot of help. 

“I’ve played the game long enough to know what it feels like and looks like when I’m right,” Carpenter said. “This is certainly that. I feel good at the plate. I feel like I can have a competitive at-bat every time I get in there. It kind of got away from me the last few years – just didn’t really have it – and was able to put in a lot of good work and a lot of people kind of helped me get it back.” 

Last winter, after his second straight season of hitting under .200 with St. Louis, Carpenter was a free agent. He turned 36 in November. He didn’t have a job, but he didn’t sit around and hope things would get better. Instead, he got busy. 

Carpenter sought out advice from Reds slugger Joey Votto. He spent time at a baseball performance lab in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He worked with a private hitting instructor in Santa Clarita, California. He got a final look-see from former St. Louis teammate (and former Yankee) Matt Holliday, who is a volunteer assistant coach at Oklahoma State University. 

When the lockout ended, Carpenter went to spring training with the Texas Rangers. It was toward the end of the shortened exhibition season that he finally felt like his old self. 

“Towards the end of spring training -- it was a short one -- I was [with] Texas and I started to feel it kind of click,” he said.  “I just knew I needed to go play and went down to Triple-A Round Rock and swung the bat well and I knew that I was trending in the right direction.” 

In 21 games at Triple-A, Carpenter hit .275 with six home runs and a .992 OPS. But the Rangers didn’t call him up. Carpenter opted out of his contract and waited for the phone to ring. Eventually, it did, on May 26.  

It was the Yankees, who manager Aaron Boone said had Carpenter on their radar since spring training as a possible lefthanded bat off the bench. The Yankees offered Carpenter an immediate big-league roster spot because of injuries to Josh Donaldson and Giancarlo Stanton. 

After hanging up the phone, Carpenter flew from his Fort Worth, Texas, home and met the Yankees in St. Petersburg, Florida, for the start of a four-game series against the Rays.  

After arriving about two hours before the game (without his signature beard, which he turned into a mustache that has become a new signature look), Carpenter was inserted into the lineup and went 0-for-2 with a hit by pitch, a walk and two runs scored in the Yankees’ 7-2 victory. 

The next night, Carpenter hit his first Yankees home run. Three more followed over the next few weeks during intermittent playing time. 

On Sunday against the Cubs, Carpenter wasn’t in the first two lineups the Yankees announced. He was added only after Gleyber Torres was scratched with a stomach illness. Carpenter hit a three-run homer anda two-run shot and added a bases-loaded walk and a run-scoring double for a seven-RBI afternoon. 

Overall, in 10 games as a Yankee (seven starts), Carpenter is 8-for-24 (.333) with 13 RBIs and a 1.592 OPS. Of his first seven hits, six were home runs and one was a bunt single. 

He also played the field on Sunday for the first time as a Yankee and added a diving stop and throw from third base for the first out of the eighth inning. But it was an only-in-Yankee-Stadium moment in the top of the first that helped prove all his hard work was worth it. 

“I've been waiting for that first Roll Call," he said. "I've been pretty excited for it . . . I went to Triple-A and then my couch for a week. Didn’t know if this would work out. I was confident with what I was doing at the plate. I was hopeful that this would potentially happen and now it’s been a lot of fun to see it play out.” 

Report: Donaldson ban upheld. MLB has upheld Josh Donaldson’s one-game suspension for calling White Sox shortstop Tim Anderson “Jackie” during a May 21 game, the AP reported, citing a source. Donaldson appealed the suspension and a hearing was held on Thursday, according to the report, which said that Donaldson is expected to serve the suspension on Tuesday when the Yankees host Tampa Bay.

By Anthony Rieber

anthony.rieber@newsday.comAnthonyRieber

Anthony Rieber covers baseball, as well as the NFL, NBA and NHL. He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since July 5, 2004.