Andy Carter

Andrew Godfrey Carter

• Bats Left, Throws Left
• Height 6' 5", Weight 200 lb.
• School University of Delaware
• High School Springfield Township High School
• Debut May 3, 1994
• Final Game May 15, 1995
• Born November 9, 1968 in Philadelphia, PA USA

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Biographical Information

Andy Carter pitched 24 games in the major leagues, all in relief, with the Philadelphia Phillies in 1994 and 1995. He went 0-2, with both losses coming the first season, and his ERA was 4.75 in 41 2/3 innings.

He was drafted by the Phillies in the 37th round of the 1987 amateur draft coming out of high school. He signed with the Phillies and began his professional career with the Utica Blue Sox of the New York-Penn League, going 0-1, 5.65 in 12 games. During the off-seasons in the following years, he attended the University of Delaware. In 1988, he was with the Spartanburg Phillies of the South Atlantic League, going 11-6, 2.30 in 25 games as a starter, and emerging as a major league prospect. On August 18th that year, he pitched a 4-0 no-hitter against the Augusta Pirates. 1989 saw him split his time between Spartanburg and the Clearwater Phillies of the Florida State League, combining to go 8-10, 3.95 in 27 starts, and in 1990 he spent a full year at Clearwater, with a record of 4-14, 4.88 in 26 games.

His career appeared to be going backwards at that point, but in spite of his unconvincing season in the FSL, he was promoted to the Reading Phillies of the AA Eastern League in 1991, and even managed to retain his precious spot as a regular starter. His ERA remained similar, at 4.84, but he turned his record around, finishing 11-5 in 20 starts. His hit rate was good - 86 in 102 1/3 innings, but his K/W ratio was not (64/57). He repeated the level in 1992, but the wheels fell off, as 0-4, 9.24 in his furst 7 outings for Reading and was sent down to Clearwater. He turned things around there, going 3-4, 1.86 in 16 games. On August 23rd, he was involved in a historic performance against the Winter Haven Red Sox as both he and his mound opponent, Scott Bakkum, pitched a no-hitter. Andy was on the winning side, as Bakkum allowed a run on two walks and two sacrifice bunts in the 7th inning, allowing Clearwater to prevail, 1-0. It was the first double no-hitter in a minor league game since Jim Mitchell and Frank Etchberger had achieved the feat almost exactly 40 years earlier, on August 20, 1952, in the New York-Penn League.

He was re-energized by his return to the lower level. He started the 1993 season strong with Reading, going 1-1, 2.82 in his first 4 starts, to earn a first shot at AAA with the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Red Barons. He went 7-7, 4.54 in 30 games, being used as a swingman, then became a full-time reliever in 1994. He was 1-0, 2.61 in 25 outings for the Red Barons, and was called up to Philly where he made his debut on May 3rd. His career did not start particularly well, as he hit the first batter he faced, Brad Ausmus of the San Diego Padres, with a pitch, then after recording an out on a pop-up, hit Luis Lopez as well, earning him an ejection from home plate umpire Jim Quick; after the game, he explained he was just nerves and not any ill intent. He stayed in the majors until late July, when he was sent back to AAA, which meant he was not forced to sit out the strike at home as others were. He was 0-2, 4.46 in 20 games with the big club. In 1995, after the strike was resolved and delayed the start of the season, he began the year with the big club and pitched 4 times for the Phillies in late April and early May, with no record and an ERA of 6.14, before being sent down when teams had to trim their rosters by a couple of players. He appeared in 14 games with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, where he was 1-2, 4.35, but he missed a good part of the season when he was injured in mid-June in a brawl that he had triggered by hitting an opposing batter. He became a free agent after the season and signed with the San Francisco Giants, but never made it back to the majors. In 1996, he was 1-5, 5.54 in 37 games as a swingman for the Phoenix Firebirds of the Pacific Coast League and was let go. In 1997, he was in the independent Northeast League with the Allentown Ambassadors, going 8-3, 3.46 in 13 games, That got him a shot in the Chinese Professional Baseball League with the Uni-President Lions in 1998, but he did not do well, finishing at 2-5, 5.26 in 36 games including 8 starts.

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