RADIO
Kerry Carpenter 2025 Fantasy Baseball Outlook: Elite Power But Is He A Platoon Bat?
In his first three seasons with Detroit, Kerry Carpenter has mashed 44 home runs in just 868 plate appearances including 18 in 296 plate appearances last season. It's easy to do the math and think that Carpenter could've approach 40 homers over a full season, but unfortunately, it's not as simple as that. Yes, Carpenter has big-time power and proved that in 2024 with a 17.7% barrel rate and 46.4% hard-hit rate along with a close to league average 81.6% zone contact rate. However, Carpenter wasn't in the lineup very often against left-handed pitching, accumulating only 32 plate appearances last season with a .107/.194/.214 slash line. The 2023 and 2022 seasons weren't as bad, but Carpenter still had a .099 ISO against LHP in 2023. The upside is here to be a Top 100 overall player for fantasy, but I'm slightly concerned that Detroit continues to sit him against most tougher left-handed pitchers.
