TCU ex Matt Carpenter close to rejoining Cardinals

St. Louis Cardinals All-Star infielder Matt Carpenter, who lives near his alma mater, TCU, during the off-season, took his first batting practice at Busch Stadium last Sunday since going on the disabled list July 6 with a strained right oblique muscle. He also ran the bases and did some sliding drills, according to multiple reports.

Cardinals manager Mike Matheny told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that Carpenter could go on a brief minor league rehabilitation assignment as soon as Sunday.

“See how I feel and evaluate from there,” Carpenter told the Post-Dispatch. He missed a month with a similar injury his rookie season in 2012.

“My injury in ’12 was a little more significant,” he said. “That being said, I’m almost on the same recovery schedule. I think this injury is not as bad so I should be good to go. We’re getting pretty close. It’s easy to go slow with an injury like this because it’s so painful at the beginning,” he said. “Once you get past that, it gets a little annoying because you feel like you’re fine. But you have to be careful.”

Hometown notables

▪ Giants’ outfielder Hunter Pence (Arlington High, UT Arlington) is 9 for 20 with three homers and six RBIs in six games during his rehab stint with Triple A Sacramento.

▪ Outfielder Cody Thomas (Colleyville Heritage) has 42 hits in his first 26 Rookie League games for the Dodgers’ Ogden (Utah) Raptors. He’s hitting .408 with 10 homers, eight doubles and 26 RBIs.

▪ Mets’ right-hander Noah Syndergaard (Mansfield Legacy), who is nicknamed Thor, tweeted that he was not responsible for a lightning strike last week that hit the Empire State Building in Manhattan.

So it should be no surprise that an enterprise T-shirt company responded with a shirt to match the moment. Enter: BreakingT, which designed a T-shirt to commemorate the occasion.

▪ Infielder Taylor Featherston (TCU) was called up by the Phillies on Monday. He went 0 for 5 with three strikeouts in his first two games.

▪ Right-hander Preston Morrison (TCU) was promoted to High A Myrtle Beach from Class A South Bend on Monday. He was 9-4 with a 2.24 ERA in 92 1/3 innings for South Bend and was named the Cubs’ minor league pitcher of the month for June after going 4-1 with an 0.83 ERA in five starts.

▪ Mariners’ Class A Clinton, Mo., right-hander Matt Walker (Aledo, Weatherford College), hasn’t allowed a run in his past nine appearances (9 2/3 innings). He’s allowed seven hits and no walks with 11 strikeouts in the span.

▪ Since being demoted to Triple A Charlotte by the White Sox, Matt Purke (TCU) has made scoreless appearances in four of five games.

▪ Athletics’ utility player Max Muncy (Keller High School) was recalled from Triple A Nashville Monday.

▪ Red Sox utility player Brock Holt (Stephenville) has nine hits in 11 games since returning the from the disabled list July 15.

▪ Kevin Cron (TCU) went a combined 3 for 6 with two homers and six RBIs in a double-header for Double A Mobile (Diamondbacks) on Saturday.

▪ Infielder Jantzen Witte (Arlington Martin, TCU) is hitting .378 with 14 hits, five RBIs and five runs in his past 10 games for the Triple A Pawtuckett Red Sox.

This story was originally published July 30, 2016 at 5:56 PM with the headline "TCU ex Matt Carpenter close to rejoining Cardinals."