Year. Carter was placed on the A's 40-man roster on November 20, 2009. In 2009, he was named the This Year in Minor League Baseball Awards "Overall Hitter of The Year". On August 9, 2010, Carter was promoted to Oakland and went 0–for–3 in his first game. On August 16, Carter was demoted to Sacramento after starting his career 0–for–19 with 12 strikeouts. After the AAA season ended, Carter was recalled to Oakland. On September 20, he snapped his 0–for–33 streak with a single in the sixth inning. On September 22, 2010 Carter hit his first major league home run against the Chicago White Sox. Carter finished the 2010 season with a .186 batting average across 78 plate appearances and 24 games. He played in the Venezuelan Winter League upon completion of the 2010 season. He hit .136 in 15 MLB games the next year, spending most of that season in the Athletics' minor league system. He also split the 2012 season between MLB and the minor leagues, hitting .239 with 16 home runs and 39 RBI in 67 games. Houston Astros (2013–2015) After the 2012 season, the Athletics traded Carter to the Houston Astros with Brad Peacock and Max Stassi for Jed Lowrie and Fernando Rodriguez. During the 2013 season, Carter played 148 games batting .223 with 29 home runs, 82 RBI, and struck out an MLB-leading 212 times. He became only the fourth player to strikeout 200 times in a season, with only Mark Reynolds having more strikeouts as a right-handed hitter. The 2014 season started out even slower for Carter, as he batted only .153 throughout the entire month of April. Carter would turn his fortunes around after the All-Star break though, as finished with a .227 batting average and career highs of 37 home runs and 88 RBI. On January 14, 2015, Carter and the Astros agreed to a one-year contract worth $4.175 million, avoiding arbitration. Carter had a disappointing 2015 season for the Astros. He was the team's starting first baseman, but hit only .199/.307/.427 in 129 games. For the season, he had the highest strikeout percentage among major leaguers against right-handed pitchers (35.6%). However, he still managed to hit 24 home runs, and then hit .294 with a home run against the Kansas City Royals during the 2015 American League Division Series. At the conclusion of the 2015 season Carter was non-tendered by the