Karl Carswell

Professional Overview

Karl Carswell is an American baseball hitting consultant, former Major League Baseball scout and player developer based in Overland Park, Kansas. He is the founder of Damage Hitter, a hitter-development business in Overland Park, and is developing the DO DAMAGE PERFORMANCE LAB.

A former college outfielder, Carswell was selected by the New York Mets in the 1990 Major League Baseball Draft,¹ was named a 1992 NJCAA Division I First-Team All-American at Butler County Community College⁵ and played two seasons at North Carolina State University.^6,7 His scouting and evaluation experience spans eight MLB organizations, USA Baseball and the Area Code Games, and he has spent more than three decades evaluating and developing baseball players.

Playing Career

1. Through 1990High school — Overland Park, Kansas. Carswell played high school baseball at Shawnee Mission West High School in Overland Park.¹⁹ MLB draft records list his school as Shawnee Mission High School (Overland Park, Kan.).^1,3
2. 1990MLB Draft — New York Mets. The Mets selected Carswell in the 43rd round (1,112th overall) of the 1990 MLB June Amateur Draft.^1,2,3,4 He did not sign with the Mets and instead played college baseball at Butler County Community College.¹⁹
3. 1990–1992Butler County Community College — El Dorado, Kansas. As an outfielder for Butler, Carswell was named to the 1992 ABCA/Rawlings NJCAA Division I All-America First Team.⁵
4. 1993–1994North Carolina State University — Raleigh, North Carolina. Carswell joined the NC State Wolfpack of the Atlantic Coast Conference, appearing on the 1993 roster as a junior and the 1994 roster as a senior outfielder.^6,7,8

Scouting & Professional Baseball

Carswell began scouting professionally in 1997. Working primarily from the Kansas City area, he held associate scout and scout positions with eight Major League Baseball organizations over the following two decades.¹⁹

Several of those positions also appear in team publications. The Tampa Bay Devil Rays’ 1999 information guide names Carswell among the participants in the club’s Career Initiative Program, a scouting and player-development training program, that October.¹² The Anaheim Angels’ 2004 media guide lists him among the club’s free agent and international scouts.¹³ The Kansas City Royals’ 2007 and 2008 media guides list him under “Part-time Scouts” (“Karl Carswell – Overland Park, Kan.”),^14,15 and the club’s 2009 and 2010 guides credit him as the signing scout of pitcher Ryan Morgan (“Signed By: Karl Carswell”), a 26th-round pick from Rockhurst University in the 2008 draft.^16,17,18 These publications document his connection to those three organizations in the years cited; they do not cover the other five organizations in the table.

From 1998 to 2013 he coached, scouted and evaluated players with the Chicago White Sox at the Area Code Games, the national showcase for top high school prospects. He also served as a seasonal coach with USA Baseball and participated in the Breakthrough Series, a joint effort of Major League Baseball and USA Baseball, in Cary, North Carolina, in 2010.^19,20

Years, organizations and roles in the table, the Area Code Games and USA Baseball are from Karl Carswell’s professional career record.¹⁹ A superscript after a team name marks an independent team publication that mentions him (refs 12–18); a publication’s year shows when it listed him and does not by itself set the dates in the table. Team names reflect the names in use at the time.

Coaching & Player Development

Barnstormers Baseball (KC Barnstormers)

In 1996 Carswell co-founded Barnstormers Baseball, an amateur baseball program in the Kansas City area, and served as its hitting coordinator through 2018. From 2013 to 2016 he directed the Barnstormers Top 100 Showcase at Missouri Western State University.¹⁹

Get Hits 4 Education Foundation

Carswell founded the Get Hits 4 Education Foundation, a Kansas 501(c)(3) nonprofit, and served as its president from 2007 to 2017.¹⁹ The foundation staged the annual Get Hits All-Star Game, which gave Kansas City-area high school players a showcase in front of college coaches and professional scouts, including at CommunityAmerica Ballpark in Kansas City, Kansas.^9,10,11

Amateur, college and professional hitters

Through Damage Hitter, Carswell works with amateur hitters year-round and currently trains college and professional hitters.

Damage Hitter

Carswell founded Damage Hitter in Overland Park in 2016 and leads its year-round hitter-development program at Damage Hitter Studios. The program combines bat-to-ball skills, bat speed, power, assessments, measurement and personal development, and treats each hitter as an individual. Carswell’s approach addresses the mental, emotional and physical sides of hitting, using assessment and measurement to set priorities and confirm progress.

Do Damage Performance Lab

Carswell is developing the DO DAMAGE PERFORMANCE LAB, a Damage Hitter initiative designed to bring the Damage Hitter development system to athletes everywhere. The DO DAMAGE PERFORMANCE LAB is currently in a pre-launch, founding-member phase.

Recognition & Career Highlights

• 1992 ABCA/Rawlings NJCAA Division I All-America First Team, outfield — Butler County Community College⁵
• Selected by the New York Mets, 1990 MLB June Amateur Draft (43rd round, 1,112th overall)^1,2
• NCAA Division I baseball, North Carolina State University (ACC), 1993–1994^6,7
• 2004 Midwest Scouts Association Amateur Coach of the Year (per Karl Carswell’s professional career record)¹⁹
• Founder, Get Hits 4 Education Foundation and the Get Hits All-Star Game^9,10,11

Independent Sources & References

1. “1990 Draft — New York Mets.” MLB / Baseball Savant. baseballsavant.mlb.com
2. “Karl Carswell.” MLB / Baseball Savant player page. baseballsavant.mlb.com
3. “Karl Carswell — Register.” Baseball-Reference.com. baseball-reference.com
4. “Karl Carswell.” Baseball America. baseballamerica.com
5. “1992 ABCA/Rawlings NJCAA Division I All-America Teams.” American Baseball Coaches Association. abca.org
6. “Karl Carswell — 1993 Baseball Roster.” NC State Athletics. gopack.com
7. “Karl Carswell — 1994 Baseball Roster.” NC State Athletics. gopack.com
8. “Karl Carswell.” The Baseball Cube. thebaseballcube.com
9. “Get Hits All-Star Game Returns to CommunityAmerica Ballpark.” OurSports Central, July 1, 2013. oursportscentral.com
10. “Get Hits all-star game returns to CommunityAmerica Ballpark.” Kansas City Kansan, July 2013. kckansan.com
11. “Get Hits 5th Annual All Star Game.” Prep Baseball Report, August 14, 2015. prepbaseballreport.com
12. “Rays’ Career Initiative Program.” 1999 Devil Rays Information Guide, Tampa Bay Devil Rays, p. 382. Via Internet Archive. archive.org
13. “Free Agent & International Scouts.” Angels Baseball 2004 (media guide), Anaheim Angels, p. 30. Via Internet Archive. archive.org
14. “Part-time Scouts.” 2007 Kansas City Royals Media Guide, p. 325. Via Internet Archive. archive.org
15. “Amateur Scouting Staff — Part-time Scouts.” 2008 Kansas City Royals Media Guide, p. 319. Via Internet Archive. archive.org
16. “Minor League Bios — Ryan Taylor Morgan, RHP” (“Signed By: Karl Carswell”). 2009 Kansas City Royals Media Guide. Via Internet Archive. archive.org
17. “Minor League Bios — Ryan Taylor Morgan, RHP” (“Signed By: Karl Carswell”). 2010 Kansas City Royals Media Guide, p. 288. Via Internet Archive. archive.org
18. “2008 Draft — Kansas City Royals” (Ryan Morgan, round 26, Rockhurst). MLB / Baseball Savant. baseballsavant.mlb.com
19. Professional career record and biographical information provided by Karl Carswell (first-party): high school, the decision not to sign with the Mets, scouting positions and dates, Area Code Games, USA Baseball and the 2010 Breakthrough Series, Barnstormers Baseball, Get Hits 4 Education Foundation, Damage Hitter and the 2004 Midwest Scouts Association Amateur Coach of the Year award. His career positions are also published on his LinkedIn profile.
20. “Major League Baseball Moves Breakthrough Series to USA Baseball NTC and Durham Bulls Athletic Park.” MLB / USA Baseball announcement via Visit Raleigh, May 3, 2010 (announces the 2010 Breakthrough Series at the USA Baseball National Training Complex in Cary, N.C.; does not list staff). visitraleigh.com