ALL-AREA BASEBALL: Auburn High’s Carter named Pitcher of the Year

As one of only four seniors on Auburn High’s baseball team, Reid Carter was expected to carry a lot of weight during this past season, both on the field and in the leadership department.

It’s a burden Tigers coach Matt Cimo said took a little while to sink in to his pitcher and shortstop.

But when it did, Carter picked it up with zeal.

“He grew up a lot about halfway through the season,” Cimo said. “He realized the season wasn’t about himself, it was about the team.”

Because no matter how how many scouts showed up at Sam Welborn Field to watch him muscle his fastball up to hitters or make a play on a grounder deep in the hole at short, one goal still trumped all others for Carter’s senior year.

“It’s nice to get all these individual accolades, but the most important thing is winning a state championship,” he said.

Carter got a nice mixture of both this year, as the Tigers won their first baseball state title in 23 years and he was named First-Team All-
State in Class 6A, along with the Opelika-Auburn News’ Pitcher of the Year.

Aside from being one of the Tigers’ most solid fielders, Carter also led the team in wins with a 9-2 record and posted a 2.02 ERA.

He also struck out 57 over 55 1/3 innings and threw a five-inning no-hitter against Dadeville — the first no-no pitching coach Tommy Carter said he had seen in his 12 years at Auburn.

Reid Carter didn’t see the mound during the Tigers’ championship series sweep of Oxford, but he did go 2-for-3 with two RBI in the clinching game, his final game in high school.

He was on deck when Russell Melton slid across home plate to seal the deal.

“You can’t ask for anything else,” Carter said. “I’m still on Cloud 9 from the whole thing.”

While Carter had the velocity to overpower hitters at times, he said that strategy didn’t always serve him the best. In fact, some of his roughest outings came when he was trying to get by with his fastball alone.

He said he would much rather pitch to contact and let his defense do the work behind him.

“If you go out there and try to strike everybody out, your arm is just going to be killing you. You won’t last long,” Carter said. “You’ve got to have the mentality to keep the ball low in the zone and get ground balls.

“Especially (at Sam Welborn). You leave the ball up, somebody’ll hit a pop fly, and it’ll be out of here.”

Carter will play at Northwest Florida State College in Niceville next year.

And, after capping off his three years on Auburn’s varsity with a ring, he feels he’s in a good position to make some noise at the junior college ranks.

“I’ve just got to use this season as motivation,” Carter said. “Try to keep the success we’ve had this year and try to build on it.”

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