Flaws evident despite Chris Carter's hot start
Astros outfielder Chris Carter has mostly failed to live up to his former billing as a top prospect in parts of four major-league seasons. Sure, he hit 16 home runs and posted an .864 on-base plus slugging percentage a year ago, but he was not a full-time player for the Athletics, who limited him to just 218 at-bats.
Carter is getting every-day at bats with the Astros this season and a hot start has Fantasy owners flocking to pick him up. As of Tuesday, Carter was the sixth-most added player in CBSSports.com Fantasy leagues, being added in 30 percent of leagues. Is he finally starting to live up to his pedigree?
Carter is flashing his solid power stroke yet again, with a .280 isolated slugging percentage that is slightly up from last year's .275 mark. But where he appears to have taken the biggest step forward is batting average, raising his .239 mark from a year ago to a more respectable .260, so far. If he can sustain that and keep hammering the ball into the seats, we'll have a breakout slugger on our hands.
Unfortunately for Fantasy owners, Carter is striking out 38.2 percent of the time he steps to the plate, leaving a .360 batting average on balls in play as the only thing standing between him and a lengthy flirtation with the Mendoza line. Carter is going to hit the ball hard enough to put up some solid BABIP numbers, but this pace is almost certainly unsustainable.
Carter has always had holes in his swing, and it doesn't look like he has shored them up, upon closer inspection. Don't be surprised if the bottom falls out quickly on this one.
