NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Medicine Hat Mavericks infielder Carter Roth squares up a pitch for a single in the third inning of WCBL action Friday at Athletic Park against the Regina Red Sox. Medicine Hat scored nine unanswered runs in a 9-7, comeback win.
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
There’s something about the crack of a wood bat that excites Carter Roth.
Luckily for the Medicine Hat Mavericks’ infielder, he’s been hearing that exquisite sound a lot this summer.
The 23-year-old product of Stratford, Ont. started his debut season in the WCBL on a hot note with a nine-game hit streak and hasn’t looked back, being held hitless in just four of 23 games he’s played in entering action Saturday at Athletic Park against the Saskatoon Berries.
What’s led to the success? Comfort, he’s been able to settle in and just perform.
“It’s feeling good, but all of it is because of the environment that I’m in, the crew here and everything around Medicine Hat,” Roth said. “The atmosphere itself, it’s a great place to be and it just gives me an environment that I can just like thrive in, that’s where my individual success is coming from.”
He leads the WCBL in hits (48), RBIs (28) and boasts a .453 batting average, not surprisingly a league-leading number as well. Entering the halfway mark of the season, he’s exactly halfway to the WCBL record for hits in a season (90) and 39 off the RBI record.
They’re numbers that have him as the frontrunner for league MVP, an award no Mavericks player has captured in the WCBL. Roth isn’t too concerned about the individual hardware, or even his individual success, he’s just focusing on helping to bring the Mavs some wins and enjoying his time in Alberta.
“For the rest of the season, it’s just stick back to the game plan,” Roth said. “Just enjoying little things, slowing things down, being present, enjoying every second of this, because it’s been a lot of fun.”
Mavs’ head coach Jonathon Thornhill has been impressed by the infielder, from the energy he brings on the field to the maturity the carries himself with.
After Thursday’s 6-5, 10th-inning loss to the Red Sox at Athletic Park, the Mavs first home loss of the season, Roth and Thornhill were having a discussion on the dugout bench when a young fan approached the infielder. Roth flipped a switch from disappointment stemming from the loss to asking the fan about his night and his experience playing baseball.
“He checks all those boxes of being a team guy,” Thornhill said. “My favourite part about it all is, today’s game is all about gap to gap, home runs or make sure you throw 95 and strength, Carter is just playing ball. He’s putting the ball in play. You give him the OBP and let the guys behind you drive you in, and he’s doing it. He’s just enjoying it and having a good time, the guys around him are happy with that, too.”
Roth has enjoyed his time as well in Medicine Hat, beyond the individual and team success. He says it was easy to gel with the team, having played with the Vulcano brothers at Colby Community College. He’s also been enamoured with the atmosphere at Athletic Park.
“I’ve loved it, at first I thought there was going to be some fans here but I remember opening day it was crazy and you get a little nervous, lots of butterflies,” Roth said. “You’re like, people come to show up and watch this baseball and the baseball is incredible.”
This summer in Medicine Hat isn’t his first exposure to wood bat baseball, using the twigs while playing for the Ontario Nationals, a tournament team, in 2019. That season he also played softball for the Tavistock Athletics, winning a national championship.
Roth says the transition between baseball and softball (also called fastball or fast pitch) is easier than expected and he says playing both have helped him become a better baseball player.
“Everything I bring over from fastball to baseball has helped me, just keeping things short and just getting the barrel to the ball and then coming to baseball, the only challenge is literally just further fences,” Roth said. “You don’t get rewarded as much, but it’s been good. The game speeds up on you in fastball and it slows down a little bit, and you just appreciate when it gets slowed down.”
Editors note: The story has been updated to reflect the statistics from the Mavs’ 9-7, comeback win Friday over the Regina Red Sox.
