2 weeks Ago
DETROIT — The nickname originated in the summer of 2022. Kerry Carpenter was a fledgling 19th-round draft pick whose bat happened to be scorching at Double-A Erie. Beau Brieske was a 27th-round pick from the same draft class and had already made his MLB debut.
As his friend continued to defy the odds and tear up the minor leagues, Brieske devised a new moniker for the left-handed masher. He started calling him Kerry Bonds. Advertisement “I think it’s a little bit of high praise,” Carpenter said.
“I accept the nickname, but I’m probably not going to call myself that.” Back then, the nickname was a half-joke. It was a compliment to Carpenter’s power, no doubt.
But the lofty comparison — Carpenter to Barry Bonds, baseball’s all-time home run leader — almost reflected how far Carpenter was from the big leagues and how far he had to climb. These days? Carpenter is no longer a novelty. He is no longer a minor leaguer few people saw coming.
He is a fully formed major-league hitter who boasts one of the league’s most powerful bats from the left side. The latest evidence: Friday’s home opener in Detroit. Bottom of the first.
A sleepy first-pitch sweeper from Chicago White Sox starter Jonathan Cannon. Carpenter uncoiled from his load and unleashed his beastly swing. The ball flew down the right-field line, nicking the foul pole and crashing into the seats.
Carpenter rounded first, and the crowd roared. Then the umpires ruled the ball foul. The party stopped as if someone had just cut the music.
“I didn’t see that it actually hit the pole,” Carpenter said. “I thought it was a couple feet fair.” After a quick conference on the infield, umpires reversed the call.
One member of the crew signaled home run with an index finger. Here, on Detroit’s Opening Day, Carpenter had just delivered a first-inning jolt. The music of the crowd roared again.
We had no doubts. First 💣 of the season at @ComericaPark belongs to Kerry Carpenter! pic.twitter.
com/g6VaVRklPE — Detroit Tigers (@tigers) April 4, 2025 “Surprises no one,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said.
“He’s incredible. It’s fun to see him when he gets locked in.” The real party had started hours earlier.
People packed the parking lots and unloaded their coolers for Detroit’s local holiday. Before dawn, Tigers fans embarked on the generational tradition of celebrating the season’s home opener in grand fashion. Cans popped, hip-hop blared, people stood atop tailgates and gave speeches paying homage to loved ones and kicking off a new season.
Advertisement “Even driving to the stadium today felt like a holiday,” Carpenter said. By the time the people gathered inside Comerica Park and the game began, Carpenter was adding to his legend in what became a 7-4 Tigers victory. Carpenter played a fitting hero.
Last September, he crushed the go-ahead grand slam off Emmanuel Clase in the ALDS and etched his name into franchise lore. All winter, he saw the replays and had friends and strangers ask him about the definitive postseason moment. In Game 5 of an eventual series loss, Carpenter played through a painful hamstring injury but hammered a pinch-hit RBI single into right field anyway.
Here now, in the new season, Carpenter atoned for a quiet 4-for-18 start, and not just with that electric first-inning home run. Carpenter hit a second home run in the fourth inning, and this one was arguably more meaningful. There were two outs and no runners on in the fourth when first-year White Sox manager Will Venable brought in left-hander Brandon Eisert to face Carpenter, with left-handed hitter Riley Greene on deck.
The move made perfect sense. But in a way, such a decision was foreshadowed before the game, when Venable was asked about combating the Tigers’ mix-and-match style. “That’s something that we’ll talk through, on how we’re going to strategize to try and counter that,” Venable said.
Venable was simply working toward a more favorable matchup. Carpenter was one of the sport’s very best hitters against right-handers last year. But in a way, this was also a decision Tigers manager A.
J. Hinch foretold back in the early days of spring training. Given Carpenter’s prowess against righties and the Tigers’ propensity for pinch-hitting, might opponents turn to left-handed relievers in early innings solely to get Carpenter out of the game? Had it been the later innings, or had the Tigers been in more desperate need of runs, or maybe even if men had been on base, Hinch could have turned to a specialist such as Andy Ibáñez on the bench.
Advertisement But in this case, the Tigers had the lead. The game was still in its infancy. And it made all the sense in the world to let Carpenter hit.
“Two outs, nobody on, is not gonna get Kerry Carpenter out (of the game),” Hinch said. “So if other managers are watching, that’s not the spot to chase him out of the game.” Despite an 0-for-3 start against left-handed pitching this season and a mere .
197 average in his major-league career against lefties, Carpenter showed why he is still hoping for more left-on-left chances this season. Not all lefties are created equal, and Eisert is not exactly Josh Hader. But Carpenter knew Eisert threw across his body from a wide angle.
He planned to let the ball travel and had the thought of taking Eisert to left field in the back of his mind. When Eisert left a slider hanging over the plate, Carpenter did what good hitters do, regardless of the matchup. He saw the ball deep and lowered his barrel.
He sent the ball flying high and just deep enough to clear the left-field wall for his second home run of the day. Carp crush 💪 pic.twitter.
com/f60mSkU388 — Detroit Tigers (@tigers) April 4, 2025 “I don’t know if it sent a message, but I really like where I’m at with my swing and my approach,” Carpenter said. “That’s just a good thing that happens when my swing and approach are good.” Carpenter’s blast made him the first Tiger to hit two home runs during a home opener since Prince Fielder in 2013.
It was also the fifth left-on-left home run of Carpenter’s career. With their lefty punisher leading the way, the Tigers jumped on the White Sox early and often Friday. In the third inning, they played their trademark style of baseball, putting two runners on via a walk and a hit-by-pitch, then scoring two runs on a single and a groundout.
They also won with punch. In the sixth inning, Greene added to Carpenter’s power when he detonated a laser home run that left the bat at 114.3 mph.
On the back of 5 2/3 solid innings from Jack Flaherty, who surrendered only one earned run and struck out seven, the Tigers rolled to their three-run victory. They built enough cushion to weather a lackluster relief outing from Kenta Maeda. Advertisement At his locker after the outing, Carpenter laughed when a reporter asked him about his nickname.
Like it or not, the moniker Brieske coined almost three years ago has stuck. “I give him credit every time,” Carpenter said. And only minutes before, Hinch had sat at a dais and concisely described the latest chapter in the Legend of Kerry Bonds.
“He’s a fun player, isn’t he?” Hinch said. (Photo of Kerry Carpenter: Gregory Shamus / Getty Images).
