Lance David Carter (born December 18, 1974) is a former

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

(MLB)

relief pitcher In baseball and softball, a relief pitcher or reliever is a pitcher who enters the game after the starting pitcher is removed because of fatigue, ineffectiveness, injury, or ejection, or for other strategic reasons, such as inclement weat ...

and current minor league pitching coach. He pitched in MLB with the Kansas City Royals,

Tampa Bay Devil Rays The Tampa Bay Rays are an American professional baseball team based in St. Petersburg, Florida. The Rays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Since its inception, the team's home ve ...

, and

Los Angeles Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Established in 1883 in the city of Brooklyn ...

. He batted and threw right-handed.

Playing career

Selected by the Kansas City Royals in the 21st round of the

1994 Major League Baseball draft First round selections The following are the first round picks in the 1994 Major League Baseball draft. Compensation picks Compensation Picks Other notable players * Troy Glaus, 2nd round, 37th overall by the San Diego Padres, but did no ...

out of

Manatee Community College Manatees (family Trichechidae, genus ''Trichechus'') are large, fully aquatic, mostly herbivorous marine mammals sometimes known as sea cows. There are three accepted living species of Trichechidae, representing three of the four living species ...

, Carter spent 6 years in the Royals minor league system, including losing the entire 1997 season due to injury, before making his major league debut with the Royals on September 15, 1999. Carter did not play in the majors in 2000 and became a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

at the end of the season. He did not play at all in 2001 and signed with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays on January 11, 2002. Carter had a career year in 2003; Carter became the Devil Rays closer and was elected to the

All-Star Game An all-star game is an exhibition game that purports to showcase the best players (the "stars") of a sports league. The exhibition is between two teams organized solely for the event, usually representing the league's teams based on region or d ...

as a reserve, but did not play. During the 2003 season, he went 7-5 with a 4.33

ERA An era is a span of time defined for the purposes of chronology or historiography, as in the regnal eras in the history of a given monarchy, a calendar era used for a given calendar, or the geological eras defined for the history of Earth. Comp ...

. In 2004, Carter had a 3.47 ERA in 56 games, and a 4.89 ERA in 39 games in 2005. On January 14, 2006, Carter and Danys Báez were traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Edwin Jackson and minor leaguer Chuck Tiffany. Carter struggled in his 10 games for the Dodgers before he was sent down to Triple-A

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

. A free agent after the 2006 season, Carter signed with the Orix Buffaloes of

Nippon Professional Baseball or NPB is the highest level of baseball in Japan. Locally, it is often called , meaning ''Professional Baseball''. Outside Japan, it is often just referred to as "Japanese baseball". The roots of the league can be traced back to the formation ...

in Japan. Carter pitched in just about every role for the Buffaloes, with 11 starts in 34 games and 6 saves with a 4.48 ERA. On January 2, 2008, he signed a minor league contract with the Toronto Blue Jays with an invitation to spring training. He pitched three scoreless innings in spring training for the Blue Jays, but was sent to minor league camp. He spent the entire 2008 season on the minor league disabled list and became a free agent at the end of the season.

Post-playing career

After retiring from the field, Carter served as a pitching coach for the

University of South Florida The University of South Florida (USF) is a public research university with its main campus located in Tampa, Florida, and other campuses in St. Petersburg and Sarasota. It is one of 12 members of the State University System of Florida. USF i ...

, and in the Philadelphia Phillies' organization. Carter played a similar role for the

Lowell Spinners The Lowell Spinners were a baseball team based in Lowell, Massachusetts. From 1996 to 2020, they were members of Minor League Baseball's New York–Penn League (NYPL) as the Class A Short Season affiliate of the Boston Red Sox. With Major League ...

short-season Class A Short Season (officially Short-Season A) was a level of play in Minor League Baseball in the United States from 1965 through 2020. In the hierarchy of minor league classifications, it was below Triple-A, Double-A, Class A-Advanced (cre ...

affiliate of the

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eigh ...

, from 2015 to 2017, and was promoted by Boston to be pitching coach of the

Class A-Advanced High-A (officially Class High-A, formerly known as Class A-Advanced, and sometimes abbreviated "A+" in writing) is the third-highest level of play in Minor League Baseball in the United States and Canada, below Triple-A and Double-A, and abov ...

Salem Red Sox The Salem Red Sox are a Minor League Baseball affiliate of the Boston Red Sox of Major League Baseball (MLB), based in Salem, an independent city adjacent to Roanoke, Virginia. The team competes at the Single-A level in the Carolina League. Ho ...

in 2018. In January 2020, Carter was named pitching coach of the Double-A

Portland Sea Dogs The Portland Sea Dogs are a Minor League Baseball team based in Portland, Maine, playing in the Eastern League. Established in 1994, the Sea Dogs are the Double-A affiliate of the Boston Red Sox. The Sea Dogs became part of the Red Sox syst ...

Personal life

Carter and his family reside in Bradenton, Florida. He and his wife Maeve have three children.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Carter, Lance 1974 births Living people American expatriate baseball players in Japan American League All-Stars Baseball players from Florida Durham Bulls players Eugene Emeralds players Gulf Coast Royals players Kansas City Royals players Lansing Lugnuts players Las Vegas 51s players Los Angeles Dodgers players Major League Baseball pitchers Minor league baseball coaches Omaha Golden Spikes players Orix Buffaloes players SCF Manatees baseball players Springfield Sultans players Tampa Bay Devil Rays players Wichita Wranglers players Wilmington Blue Rocks players State College of Florida, Manatee–Sarasota alumni