TCU Power Index: All-Star Matt Carpenter remains face of Cardinals' franchise
Note: This is No. 2 of a series of 10 profiles on the top 10 former TCU athletes still working in professional sports. The rankings, while completely unscientific and definitely up for debate, are based, in part, on the players' current and recent success, their status on their team and in their league, and their career achievement. Please feel free to complain about the order or any omissions. Email me at sstevenson@star-telegram.com to make your argument and perhaps you'll convince me to add them to a best of the rest list after we count down the top 10.
No. 2 Matt Carpenter, St. Louis Cardinals
Carpenter is not only one of the best players in the major leagues he's one of the best players on one of the flagship organizations in baseball.
Think of the reverence Rangers' fans have for someone such as Michael Young and then double it to get a feeling for Carpenter's importance to Cardinal Nation. Like Andy Dalton for the Bengals, Carpenter is the face of his franchise. To be that player for the Cardinals, it takes a special kind of man.
He should collect his 1,000th hit later this year. After a slow start in '18, Carpenter has been on fire lately. He has eight home runs, six doubles and 13 RBIs in the last month.
The three-time All-Star broke out in 2013 with a league-leading 199 hits, 126 runs scored and 55 doubles (third best all-time for the Cardinals). He earned the Cardinals' first Silver Slugger Award at second base that season. His ability to play multiple positions has been invaluable to the Cardinals. Carpenter has played more than 200 games at third base (498), second base (212) and first base (237) and also 25 games in the outfield.
Carpenter's path to the big leagues wasn't easy. He was taken in the 13th round of the '09 draft after being named the organizations minor league player of the year in 2010, made his major league debut in 2011. He became an every day player in 2012 and an All-Star in 2013 while leading the Cardinals to the World Series.
At TCU, he had a career batting average of .312 and remains in the top five of games played, at-bats, hits, doubles, walks and runs scored. Carpenter hit a then-record 23 doubles as a senior in 2009 while helping the Frogs reach their first NCAA Super Regional. He still calls Fort Worth home in the off-season and remains a devoted Horned Frog.
No. 10 Marcus Cannon, New England Patriots
No. 9 Ronnie Baker, track and field
No. 8 Angela Stanford, LPGA
No. 7 Josh Doctson, Washington Redskins
No. 6 J.J. Henry, PGA
No. 5 Jerry Hughes, Buffalo Bills
No. 4 Jake Arrieta, Philadelphia Phillies
No. 3 Andy Dalton, Cincinnati Bengals
This story was originally published June 21, 2018 at 12:54 PM with the headline "TCU Power Index: All-Star Matt Carpenter remains face of Cardinals' franchise."