After injury scare, Chris Carrier is playing 'the best baseball of my life' at Memphis

Mark Giannotto | Memphis Commercial Appeal

Show Caption Hide Caption Memphis RF Chris Carrier explains the secrets to his baseball success Memphis RF Chris Carrier explains why he's currently playing the best baseball of his career with the Tigers.

To explain why University of Memphis right fielder Chris Carrier says he's "playing the best baseball of my life," or how he’s hitting more home runs than ever before, it’s important to remember what happened to him more than two years ago. When the former walk-on first broke through as a sophomore, his right arm swelled up like a grapefruit, according to Memphis Coach Daron Schoenrock.

The workout in the middle of April 2015 was supposed to be a light one. Coming off a series win over South Florida, Carrier had just been named the American Athletic Conference hitter of the week for the second time in three weeks. But as the Memphis native began batting practice, former teammate Tucker Tubbs did a double take.

“Your arm looks weird. It’s turning different colors,” Carrier recalled Tubbs telling him. “It was purple and blue and twice the size.”

Upon being rushed to the emergency room, Carrier was diagnosed with Paget-Schroetter disease, a rare medical condition in which blood clots form in the arms due to impingement caused through vigorous activity. In Carrier’s case, he added a significant amount of muscle to his frame the previous offseason and it began to constrict blood flow.

To remedy the situation, Carrier underwent a seven-hour surgery in which his top rib was removed. During the procedure, his lung also collapsed and he had a chest tube inserted temporarily for support. When he emerged from an anesthesia-induced haze, his mother asked if she could keep the rib as a souvenir and “give it to his bride, you know, the whole Adam and Eve thing,” Mary Carrier said with a laugh earlier this week.

But her humor belied how scared everyone had been initially. The entire ordeal, which included a week spent in the hospital, six months on blood thinners and six weeks of rehabilitation, altered Carrier’s approach to the game.

“That whole process of getting back, I realized how anything could happen, that baseball could be done for you in an instant,” Carrier said recently. “I kind of feel like it’s changed me to where I play like it could be the last time I’m on the field.”

This strategy is working wonders as Carrier reaches the final games of his college career. As he approaches senior day on Saturday against Tulane, Carrier currently leads the Tigers in batting average (.321), home runs (14), RBIs (42), slugging percentage (.620) and on base percentage (.434). He's also one of the team's most improved outfielders, known for highlight-reel catches.

Though Memphis (29-25, 8-14 AAC) is in the midst of an up-and-down season, Carrier’s diligence is an example for everyone in the locker room, Schoenrock said. The coach also sees a lot of himself in his team captain.

Carrier starred in football and baseball at Christian Brothers High School, but elected to pursue baseball at the college level. He comes from a baseball family. His father, Henry, played at Christian Brothers University, and he had one grandfather who played at CBU and another who played at Vanderbilt.

It was longtime Christian Brothers High School Coach Buster Kelso who first alerted Schoenrock about Chris Carrier, once Carrier decided to focus on one sport. Schoenrock was intrigued by Carrier’s strong arm and natural power tendencies at the plate.

But he also liked that Carrier’s development had been stunted a bit by the fact that he never played baseball year-round. This reminded Schoenrock of how he ended up blossoming as a pitcher at Tennessee Tech after years spent splitting time between football and baseball in high school.

And so, Carrier began his college career as an intriguing walk-on and made six starts as a freshman. By his sophomore season, he earned a partial scholarship. Then came the freak injury, which Schoenrock believes ultimately cost Carrier the chance to be selected in last year’s Major League Baseball draft as a junior. Carrier nonetheless hit .280 and finished with a team-high 38 RBIs last year in his return to the lineup.

The difference this season, Carrier and Schoenrock agree, is Carrier’s situational awareness. Carrier said he’s focused on “swinging at balls I can hammer, balls I can do damage on.”

“He’s reading pitchers’ minds better now as an older player than he did as a younger player,” added Schoenrock, who believes Carrier will get drafted or signed as a free agent by an MLB organization next month.

This week, however, brought on “a sad feeling,” Carrier admitted, because he knows his career at Memphis is winding down. Wednesday could have been his last practice at FedExPark, and Saturday will be his final home game.

But if those emotions are distracting, it isn't showing at the plate, where he's in the midst of a 12-game hitting streak.

On Tuesday, with his mother seated behind home plate, his father along the fence in right field, a runner on second base and a Murray State left-hander on the mound, Carrier was presented with a situation he would have handled differently in previous years.

Instead of trying to pull the ball and drive in the runner, Carrier focused on hitting something to the right side in order to advance the runner. But on the third pitch, he connected and the ball launched off his aluminum bat and over the fence in straightaway center field for another home run.



“It looked easy, didn’t it?” Mary Carrier said, even though she knew it hasn’t always been.