Chris Carter

William Christopher Carter is a professional baseball player from the United States of America who plays as a first baseman or outfielder. Carter was a student at the De La Salle High School from where he graduated in 2001 with a batting average of .571. In his senior season, Carter led the team in home runs while being named the team MVP. He was also named to the 2001 Pre-season First Team All-American by Baseball America and was named as the 2001 Bay Valley Athletic League MVP.

Carter was an all-rounder, performing well in his academics as well. This earned him the North Coast Section High School Sports Focus Scholar-Athlete of the Year in 2000-01.

Carter went on to attend Stanford University, studying human biology. In his freshman year, he was named as Stanford’s Most Valuable Freshman after helping the cardinals to the 2002 College World Series’ Final Eight. He repeated the feat in 2003 before ending his college career prematurely.

In 2004, Carter declared for the 2004 Amateur Draft, getting picked by the Arizona Diamondbacks in the 17th round.

Carter began the season with the Yakima Bears in the low A-Division before moving onto the South Bend Silver Hawks, in the A-Division. In 2005, he started off with the Lancaster JetHawks in the Advanced A-League before moving onto the AA-League to play with the Tennessee Smokies, all in 2005.

Carter was rising quickly through the ranks and was considered as one the top prospects in the Diamondbacks’ organization. His batting average, at its lowest, was at .296 with the Lancaster JetHawks. He moved onto the Tucson Sidewinders in 2006, batting out the entire season at .301 with 19 homers to his name, the highest since his 21 with the JetHawks.

Carter began 2007 with the Sidewinders as well, playing 126 games at .324. Carter wasn’t entirely happy at Arizona and had reportedly demanded for a trade. In August, 2007, the Diamondbacks gave in to their demands and traded him out to the Washington Nationals. The Nationals traded him further to the Boston Red Sox where he was assigned to the Pawtucket Red Sox in the AAA-League.

Carter began well for the Pawtucket Red Sox, during the end of the season in 2007. He started 2008 with the team and returned to his usual batting form, hitting at .300 before being called up to the MLB roster. He returned to Pawtucket at the start of 2009, before moving back into the MLB roster to fill the final spot on their bench. Carter was there only until Mark Kotsay was placed on the disabled list.

Carter was traded out to the New York Mets at the start of 2010, in exchange for Billy Wagner. After Spring Training, Carter was named to the 40-man roster for the season.