The lineup card (season 3; volume 2)
Carter Mathison has been in this position before.
Six years ago, the Fort Wayne native burst onto the scene with Homestead High School’s varsity team, impressing as a freshman with a .435 batting average and four doubles in just nine games. His momentum carried into his sophomore year, where he belted four home runs and maintained a solid .326 average over 29 games. Up until his junior season was lost to the COVID-19 pandemic, the long ball was not a major part of Mathison’s game, though he was determined to change that.
“I was a pretty scrawny kid. I could get some balls out occasionally, but once I really dedicated myself to the weight room, that’s when a little bit of my power started to show up,” Mathison reflected over the phone. The 6-foot-2 outfielder began working with a trainer near his home three to four times a week, prioritizing leg day. He transformed from 175 pounds to a muscular 200 pounds in a year, but that was not the only reason why the ball started jumping off his bat. “Around that time is when I started working with a hitting coach, learning about my swing and you know, really taking a deep dive into it and studying it. We focused on the load, timing and getting my hands into the power spot. Previous to that, I never really had a designated hitting coach. I was just swinging to swing and found a way to hit the ball.”
Mathison’s hard work culminated in a .515/.621/1.242 slash line during his senior year, leading the state of Indiana with 16 home runs and 64 runs scored. He also tallied 12 doubles, six triples and 53 RBIs in 33 games. As one might expect, those monster stats caught the attention of many pro scouts.
MLB.com ranked Mathison as the 234th best prospect in the 2021 draft class, which if selected in that range, would have likely come with a signing bonus offer just south of $200,000 since each pick among the top 10 rounds carries a designated slot value. However, the Indiana Hoosiers recruit was dead set on going to school unless an offer blew him away, so he claimed to be unaffected by the pre-draft hype.
“I’m pretty big on education. My dad was a big proponent of how important college is and I was blessed enough with the opportunity to come here,” Mathison said. “Growing up in Indiana, pretty much every kid’s dream is to play a sport at Indiana University. Baseball isn’t going to last you a lifetime. You can’t play till you’re 80 years old, so it’s really important to have a backup plan. That was my main focus—I wanted to get a degree and have that backup plan for when it’s time to hang up the cleats, knowing I can fall back on something and be successful.”
One team called during the 11th round, but they were unwilling to meet Mathison’s $1 million asking price to pry him away from school—a story that replays every year for countless top high school prospects with strong college commitments. The record-setting slugger delivered on his promise and took his talents to Bloomington, where he would pursue a degree in business management.
“It’s like Déjà vu all over again” – Yogi Berra
Mathison, now 21, arrived on campus that fall with a rare opportunity to immediately compete for a starting job as a true freshman at a Power Five school. Much like his experience as a ninth-grader at Homestead High School, the way he carried himself in those early practices left a lasting impression on the upperclassmen.
“I remember Carter coming in as a freshman and he was super physical. His physical talent is easy to see, but what impressed me the most was his ability to keep his head down and prove himself every single day in the fall and that spring,” former Hoosiers teammate and current Washington Nationals prospect Phillip Glasser recalled. “For the amount of success he had that year, and continues to have, he remains the same humble, confident guy he was when he showed up his freshman year.”
In a meeting with the coaching staff just before the season opener, Mathison was informed that he had a strong shot at being named the starting left fielder. On the day of their first game at Clemson, the freshman slugger peeked at the starting lineup and confirmed that he had earned the nod. He briefly allowed himself to take in the moment but remained modest amidst his achievement.
“That definitely brought a smile to my face. A little bit of excitement there,” Mathison admitted in a relaxed tone. “But you know, right before the game, it’s just like any other game and I just happened to be playing in it. Before that, I called my dad and I told him about it. He was pretty proud of me, so that was a cool conversation.”
Through his first month as an everyday college ballplayer, Mathison’s batting average dipped just below .160, with only two home runs to his name. Despite these early struggles, his confidence never wavered.
“I never felt overmatched,” Mathison said. “Baseball is just a weird game. It definitely took some adjusting, getting used to the more competitive pitching. You’re no longer just seeing fastballs. You’re seeing three different pitches, four different pitches. I just kept going, kept getting used to it and getting better.”
Indiana head coach Jeff Mercer is very quick to help make adjustments with his players when he notices a mechanical flaw. During that tough early stretch, he pointed out that Mathison’s swing was “loud,” meaning that it had a lot of moving parts. When the lefty-hitting slugger’s front foot hit the ground, his momentum sometimes continued to drive forward, making it much more difficult to adjust to movement pitches and changes of speed. Together, they worked to simplify his swing, making it noticeably more balanced. Mathison also credited fellow outfielders Bobby Whalen (transferred to Virginia) and Hunter Jessee (transferred to Cincinnati) for mentoring him on both the offensive and defensive sides of the game.
From that point on, Mathison caught fire at the plate. He closed out the season with an impressive .273/.393/.608 slash line and 19 home runs, shattering former MLB player Alex Dickerson’s single-season freshman record at Indiana, previously set at 14 in 2009. His home run total ranks No. 2 all-time for a freshman in Big Ten history, just behind Brad Carlson of Iowa, who hit 21 in 1999. Those eye-popping numbers earned him Freshman All-America honors from Collegiate Baseball Newspaper and a spot on the All-Big Ten freshman team.
Always improving
Mathison put together yet another strong stat line as a college sophomore last year, batting .311/.426/.538 with 10 home runs, three triples, 15 doubles and 49 RBIs. The Hoosiers improved their win total by 16 and ended up being a winner-take-all loss away from advancing to a Super Regional.
After each of the past two springs in the Big Ten, Mathison ventured beyond his Indiana home to play collegiate summer ball. In the summer of 2022, he competed in 26 games with the Keene Swamp Bats in the New England Collegiate Baseball League. Following his sophomore season, he joined the Cotuit Kettleers in the Cape Cod League, a prestigious wood bat league which has served as a stepping stone for well over 1,000 players who later graced big league uniforms. Notable alumni include Hall of Famers like Frank Thomas and Jeff Bagwell, among other MLB stars.
Mathison described summer ball as a unique experience, highlighting the absence of the intense pressure tied to conference championship contention. It felt easy for him to go out and have fun playing on an everyday basis regardless of the outcome, though he occasionally felt homesick.
But even while having fun, the Hoosiers star approached each summer with a very specific purpose and goal. Offensively, his focus was on consistently driving line drives to all parts of the field. Defensively, the two-year corner outfielder honed his skills in anticipation of a potential shift back to center.
“In center field, I feel like I can run all over the place. Any ball that’s hit up in the air, I can go get. There’s not really any barriers almost. It’s kind of–if you can go catch it, you can call it off and I’ve really enjoyed that,” Mathison described when asked about the difference between positions. “I’ve played center pretty much my whole life. I’ve always felt very comfortable in that position. It’s always been pretty natural to me.”
Another personal goal that Mathison has mentioned in past interviews, including on one episode of the JKR Podcast in December 2022, was to steal more bases. He swiped eight bags as a freshman, but that number was cut to three in 2023. Some believe that in order to appeal to big league scouts as a five-tool player, you have to flash 20-homer, 20-stolen base potential. While Mathison has demonstrated considerable power, his ability to steal bases remains somewhat enigmatic, despite a perfect 5-for-5 record on stolen base attempts this spring.
The reality is–Indiana is not a heavy base-stealing team. Their roster is a combined 33-for-40 on stolen base attempts in 53 games this season. For comparison, their Big Ten rival Purdue Boilermakers have swiped 80 bags in 100 attempts. Every program employs a different strategy, and the Hoosiers choose to be conservative with their outs, trusting their hitters to do most of the damage without risking running themselves out of innings. However, Mathison clarified that he feels comfortable being asked to steal more bases should he ultimately land in a pro organization that likes to be more aggressive on the basepaths.
Approaching the 2024 MLB Draft
On April 28, Mathison punished a pitch thrown on the outer half of the plate, hitting it just to the left of the trees located in dead center at IU’s Bart Kaufman Field. It was the 40th big fly of his college career, making him one of three players in school history to belt 40+ home runs in their first three seasons. The other two both went on to play several years in the big leagues – Alex Dickerson and current Phillies slugger Kyle Schwarber, who has hit 255 bombs through parts of 10 seasons.
Mathison has started all 53 regular season games as a junior, posting a .854 OPS with 13 home runs, 12 doubles and 40 RBIs. There is some swing and miss to his game, but not an overly alarming amount. On the defensive side, he carries a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage in center field. Some talent evaluators envision him settling back into a corner spot at the next level due to his speed, however, he has shown this spring that he can control his neighbors in left and right field well enough to handle center long-term.
Since Mathison is a college junior, he is eligible to be selected in July’s amateur draft. Having already been through the draft process once before, he feels well-prepared and unfazed by the proceedings. To him, one of the only differences between this go-around and what he experienced in high school is the heightened scrutiny and attention surrounding him and his team, attributed largely to televised games and the prestige of representing a renowned university. But Mathison assured that he has all of that noise blocked out.
“We always tell ourselves–we don’t really care what the outside world thinks. The guys in this locker room are all that matters. If we all have each other’s backs, we’re already good,” Mathison said. “Our main thing is we keep it in the locker room. We don’t care what other people think or what other people say. All that we care about is our brothers.”
The scouts themselves have been quiet when it comes to direct contact, similar to how they left him alone during the high school season before picking up closer to the draft in 2021. Future Stars Series currently has him ranked as the No. 122 prospect in their updated top-500, which would place him somewhere comfortably between rounds three and five if MLB scouting departments agree.
One thing that certainly has not changed from High School is Mathison’s attitude toward the future. Right now, his focus is solely on trying to help his team win the conference. He is on track to graduate this summer and currently has no plans to play in a collegiate summer league. Still, he avoided disclosing when he plans to decide on either turning pro or returning for a senior season at Indiana.
“That’s not something I try to think about,” Mathison said. “I think once you fall into that trap, it only hurts you. It doesn’t really help you, so I just take it day by day in my life and have fun. Like I said earlier, whatever happens, happens.”