Anderson: Chris Carter is threatening Mexico’s single-season homer record
From R.J. Anderson at CBS Sports on August 9, 2019:
The scene occurs too often to inventory or romanticize. A batter takes a half-hearted swing on a pitch about knee-high and over the plate. On contact the ball punctures the night sky, zipping away on a steep arc. The outfielder drifts back, taking more steps than required, before conceding defeat on the warning track. Home run. The sum of a skilled hitter, an errant pitch, and a nutty ball.
This sequence isn’t imagined. It played out on June 27 — and not during a Major League Baseball or Triple-A game. Rather, the home run was launched as part of a Liga Mexicana de Béisbol contest between the Guerreros de Oaxaca and the Acereros de Monclova. The hitter responsible for the blast is well known on both sides of the border: Chris Carter, who co-led the National League in home runs a few seasons ago. These days, Carter bats cleanup for the Acereros, in between Francisco Peguero and Bruce Maxwell, two other former big leaguers with less cachet.
In the coming weeks, Carter may add to his Q score by breaking LMB’s single-season home-run record. Elsewhere in Mexico, a peer is attempting to hit .400 for the year, and another is closing in on the league’s first 40-40 season. LMB may not be the Show, but baseball is global — and so too, it seems, is the belief the home run is the sport’s greatest attraction. Hence league officials introducing a juiced ball this year, triggering a pitching apocalypse and putting the holiest numbers at risk.
Read the full article here: https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/chris-carter-the-home-run-king-forgotten-by-mlb-is-threatening-mexicos-single-season-homer-record/
Originally published: August 9, 2019. Last Updated: August 9, 2019.