Former New Mexico Junior College baseball player David Carpenter was called up by the Los Angeles Angels on Friday and made his Major League Baseball debut at Yankee Stadium – becoming the sixth Thunderbird to play in the majors.
The 24-year-old Carpenter – a Grand Prairie, Texas, native – pitched in relief in the eighth inning of the Angels’ 5-0 loss to the Yankees, throwing a scoreless inning while giving up a hit to Nick Swisher while retiring Robinson Cano, Mark Teixeira and Raul Ibanez.
“I always thought about what kind of emotions I’d feel once I get that call – cry, scream – and when it finally happened, it was just pure shock, actually,” Carpenter said to MLB.com. “I just kind of sat there with an expressionless face.”
Carpenter joins Brendon Donnelly, Armando Almanza, Jose Flores, Mike Vento and Johnny Lujan as NMJC baseball players that have played in the majors.
Carpenter was the closer on the 2007 NMJC team that finished second in the nation at the JUCO World Series in Ray Birmingham’s last season with the T-Birds before taking the head coaching job at University of New Mexico. The right-hander went 7-1 with six saves in 2007 with a 2.37 ERA while striking out 58 in 57 innings.
Carpenter was a 49th-round pick by the Seattle Mariners following the season, but instead opted to go to the University of New Mexico with Birmingham. Carpenter red-shirted the 2008 season then transferred to Paris Junior College where he went 6-3 with a 3.19 ERA in 2009.
Carpenter was drafted in the ninth round of the 2009 MLB First-Year Player Draft by the Angels and in three seasons in the organization has a 1.77 ERA – including a 0.57 ERA in 44 appearances for Class A Advanced Inland Empire and Double-A Arkansas in 2011.
Carpenter started this season with Triple-A Salt Lake and hadn’t allowed a run in his three appearances.
