Ancient Rome was built through a combination of military strength, political flexibility, and a little bit of good luck, which allowed it to reach unprecedented heights. Carter Stover’s career is compared to as such. A combination of Stover’s power and mechanics is his military power. His flexibility to overcome certain obstacles, like fatigue, is his political flexibility.  Along with a little luck compared to how Rome wasn’t built in a day, Stover’s career was built on years of hard work and dedication.

Stover began his baseball journey at the age of six at the YMCA, starting in a recreational league. However, his interest in baseball really kicked off when he first watched the St. Louis Cardinals play in the 2013 World Series, and he never looked back.

“It really just grabbed my attention and I knew at a young age that I wanted to play,” Stover said.

After playing in the YMCA for a year, Stover moved on to Catholic Youth Council sports in Shrewsbury, Missouri. Following CYC, Stover moved on to Shield Youth Athletics, a former club team. It was in middle school that he started focusing on baseball and wanted to take it seriously.

“My mom just helped me keep me in the sport and has helped me decide to continue baseball,” Stover said. “It was always fun to compete every weekend, trying to win ball games.”

To compete and be taken seriously, Stover took some big leaps as a ballplayer and really started to develop into the player he is today.

“I started visiting throwing trainers and they helped me focus on my mechanics so I could throw higher velocity and more strikes,” Stover said.

In high school, Stover began to find his drive and motivation for baseball. He started driving himself apart from everyone else. His love of the game inspired him to play at a higher level when he reached high school. The first person who noticed his love for the game, as well as his drive and motivation, was varsity baseball coach Mike Freedline.

“I met [Stover] as a freshman when he went out to try out for the team,” Freedline said. “I had him as a sophomore, and it was here that I started to notice his competitive nature, and his pitching has just gotten better and better each year.”

In addition to playing varsity baseball for North, Stover also joined a club team for high schoolers at the Premier Baseball Academy. Here, Stover improved the most and met what he considers his greatest coach, Matthew Meier.

“Coach Matt really helped me get in contact with other coaches and helped me learn some of my mechanics on the mound,” Stover said. “He just helped me overall.”

Stover plays at premier under coach Matthew Meier. Matthew Meier owns Premier Baseball Academy and is the head coach of the 17U team at Premier, where Stover plays. He has 15 years of coaching experience and first met Stover when he came to Premier from Shield Youth Athletics. It was part of a group deal with three to four kids, including Stover, that came over to premier.

“Carter came to us at 14 – 15U and has been with us for the past four years,” Meier said.” The growth that he’s had with our organization has been phenomenal. He does everything the right way, he’s a great teammate and a great kid, and that’s now showing on the field.”

Throughout all the lessons that Stover has learned from his coaches and his family, such as his mechanics and throwing abilities, Stover’s greatest lesson came from Meier’s expertise and experience with playing and coaching baseball.

“I just try to keep Carter patient and present in the moment,” Meier said. “Just keep him working on his craft. He applied it and was willing to go wherever we thought was best for him. He took that advice and ran with it and has been extremely loyal to that advice for the past four years in our program.”

In addition to all the support from coaches, Stover’s biggest inspiration and motivator is his mom, Marla Johnson, who has done a good job leading him on his current path as an athlete.

“I try to find the best path for him as far as club ball goes and find coaches who are super involved and just the growth of the athlete,” Johnson said.

As Stover progressed throughout high school, he transitioned from just being a player to captain and mentor to other athletes on the team.

“Carter just leads by example a lot of times,” Freedline said. “He shows how to command the mound and shows confidence, and once he gets started, so does everyone else.”

After high school, Stover is committed to Missouri Southern State University, a Division II school in Joplin, Missouri.

“Missouri Southern is a great program, one of the top Division II programs in the country, and I know he is going to be successful,” Meier said. “The short time that Missouri Southern has seen him met with him and his family, and it was an easy decision for them to offer him and let him be a part of the program.”

After his senior season at North concludes, Stover cannot wait to immediately make an impact at Missouri Southern and start his collegiate journey.

“I was very happy,” Stover said. “It’s a dream come true, you always dream about going and playing college, and it was just very nice to see that actually happen. I just want to dominate and be better for my team and win ball games.”

This story was originally published on FHNtoday.com on April 26, 2025.