KANSAS CITY -- On Oct. 28, 2014, an 11-year-old Carter Jensen sat in section 422 at Kauffman Stadium and watched the ballpark roar to life with every scoreless inning Yordano Ventura threw against the Giants and every run the Royals scored to get closer to forcing a Game 7.
It was, Jensen said, one of the most electric atmospheres he’s ever seen -- even in one of the highest sections at The K. A Kansas City native who went to Park Hill High School about 20 miles northwest of Kauffman Stadium, Jensen has been a Royals fan his entire life. He grew up attending games. He played for the Royals Scout Team at the Urban Youth Academy. Salvador Perez is his idol.
Eleven years later, Jensen is on the field, as a Royals player, trying to help them get back to October.
“When it comes to playoff baseball in Kansas City, I feel like it turns up a notch,” Jensen said. “That’s honestly what I’m striving for, and to be on the field and not in the stands, that’s some extra motivation that I’m always keeping in the back of my head.”
The Royals promoted the hometown kid as rosters expanded for the final month of the regular season and as they try to make a playoff push, just 2 1/2 games out of an American League Wild Card spot through Tuesday.
Jensen, the Royals’ No. 2 prospect and MLB Pipeline’s No. 69 prospect on its Top 100 list, joins Kansas City as its third catcher and made his debut in the ninth inning of the Royals' 5-1 loss to the Angels on Tuesday, striking out to end the game against closer Kenley Jansen.
“I don’t know if there’s a player in my tenure here that has wanted to be a Kansas City Royal more than that kid,” said vice president of player personnel Lonnie Goldberg, who was the scouting director when the Royals drafted Jensen in the third round of 2021.
Being drafted by the Royals was already a dream scenario for Jensen and his family; taking batting practice Tuesday as a member of the 28-man roster was a whole different story.
“I’m just going to my son’s ballgame tonight,” said Jim Jensen, Carter’s dad. “Since he was drafted, we’ve watched him at every level. We’ve gone everywhere. We’ve seen him not only grow as a baseball player but as a person. And I haven’t seen him not smile yet today.”
Jensen’s love for baseball started in T-ball at 4 years old. Jim realized Carter might have some talent when the season ended that year and a coach from the opposing team approached Jim asking if Carter would want to play for his team the next season.
“I mean, it’s T-ball. We’re being recruited?” Jim said. “But that’s just how it started. We fell in love with the sport.”
Carter’s answer to the question of what he wanted to be when he grew up was “baseball player” from the time he was 8 years old, his mom, Kim Jensen, said. He told teachers he didn’t have a Plan B. He hardly ever took no for an answer.
“This isn’t really surprising to me, as a mom, because he just makes things happen,” Kim said. “And the more you tell him he can’t, it just fuels him. I love that about him.”
Carter actually didn’t make the Royals Scout Team the first summer he tried out, when he was headed into his freshman year of high school. That fueled him even more.
“I wanted to be on the Royals Scout Team so bad just because they had Royals across their chest,” Jensen said. “Going into that summer, I knew that I had to put in the work if I wanted to be on that team. I needed to do everything I could to get there and be on that team.”
Jensen made the team the next summer and played for it throughout high school. It’s how he got exposed to the Royals’ scouting department and local scout Matt Price.
It’s how he became a Draft prospect by 2021, when he was committed to LSU but signed with the Royals instead.
“When we went to Jupiter, Fla., in the fall of his junior year, when all the scout teams played at Roger Dean Complex, he was the best player on the field,” Price said. “... It was the bat and power that we liked the most. He was one of those guys who liked to catch but loved to hit. But by the time his senior year rolled around, he really started taking pride in his defense.”
That development continued into pro ball. Jensen has matured into one of the Royals’ top hitting prospects with big-time raw power, but he has also grown into a true catching prospect. He won’t take over full-time behind the plate for Kansas City yet -- Perez will still catch a majority of games down the stretch -- but Jensen will be able to show what he can do.
He wants to be playing baseball here in October, after all. Not just watching it.
“I’m extremely ready,” Jensen said. “... Being up here is exciting, it’s a big step for me. But at the same time, I know what’s going on here, and I know that I have to be ready at any given moment.”