Carter runner-up in Frontier League MVP selection

Josh Carter was the runner-up in the selection for the Frontier League’s Most Valuable Player award.

The 1998 Fallbrook High School graduate, who spent the 2007 baseball season with the Kalamazoo Kings in the independent minor league, finished second to shortstop Travis Garcia of the Chillicothe Paints.

“In my mind and in my teammates’ mind and in my manager’s mind I was MVP. I went out there and gave it my all every day,” Carter said.

Carter, who served as the Kings’ designated hitter, batted .311 with 12 home runs and 75 runs batted in. He had 109 hits, including 21 doubles, in 351 at-bats. He scored 65 runs, walked 24 times, and stole six bases.

“As far as production it was probably my most successful year,” Carter said.

Carter was selected by the Atlanta Braves in the 46th round of the 1998 draft but opted to play baseball for Oregon State University. Carter was converted from third base to the outfield while at Oregon State, and in his junior year the San Diego Padres selected him in the 14th round of the 2001 draft.

Carter began his professional career with Eugene of the Northwest League, but a torn ligament in his elbow limited him to 23 games and a .186 batting average in 2001. He was promoted to Fort Wayne for the 2002 season, where he batted .268 in the Midwest League. A shortage of outfielders for Eugene and a surplus at Fort Wayne caused Carter’s transfer to the Northwest League for nine games, in which Carter batted .351 before returning to Fort Wayne.

Carter spent 2003 with the Lake Elsinore Storm and batted .300, giving him a .300 average in professional baseball for the first but not the last time. “The previous years I’ve done well,” he said. “I’ve proven myself in that department.”

Carter appeared in 96 of the Storm’s 140 regular-season games in 2003. He missed five days in April with a sore elbow, twelve days in May with bicep tendonitis, and four days in June with a knee injury.

Carter returned to Lake Elsinore for 2004 and batted .305 in 89 games to lead the team in batting. He also spent 33 games in 2004 with Class AA Mobile, where he batted .225.

In the minor league Rule V draft in December 2004 Carter was claimed by the Philadelphia Phillies, and he spent 2005 as a minor leaguer in the Phillies organization. He spent 2006 with Calgary’s independent minor league team before playing for Kalamazoo in 2007.

“I didn’t have any injuries this year,” Carter said. “It went well.”

Kalamazoo played 96 games during the 2007 season and Carter appeared in 94 of them. He sat out two games to rest for the playoffs, although the Kings finished 1 ½ games behind Rockford for the league’s wild card playoff berth. “It came down to the wire, and we couldn’t pull it off,” Carter said.

The post-season opportunity was settled during seven games in the season’s final four days. Kalamazoo won the first of those games, lost the second, and won the third. “All we had to do was win one more game and we lost the rest of them and it was all by one run in the last inning,” Carter said.

Although Carter believes that he was worthy of a Most Valuable Player award, he didn’t feel that Garcia was undeserving. “He was a very, very good player,” Carter said of Garcia. “He had a really good season.”

In a subjective post-season selection, second place was acceptable to Carter. “I don’t have any regrets or any hard feelings,” he said. “I’m happy with my performance this year.”

Carter is considering various options for 2008. He will not return to Kalamazoo since the Frontier League has a maximum player age and Carter turned 27 in November.

“Loved my manager, loved my teammates,” said Carter, whose manager was Fran Riordan. “It was probably one of the best seasons I’ve had.”