Claerhout relishing development

By Lethbridge Herald on July 2, 2025.

By Justin Seward

Lethbridge Herald

While Lethbridge Bulls player Carter Claerhout is from Red Deer, his time playing baseball in Lethbridge has been a period of growth as a person and as a player.

Claerhout played with the Lethbridge- based Prairie Baseball Academy from fall of 2020 to the spring of 2023, before going to Southern Arkansas University for two years  that fall and now is in his fourth and final summer with the Bulls.

Claerhout picked PBA to help develop and raise his game for the next level.

“PBA was the first step,” said Claerhout.

“It was more I guess you could say …  my JuCo (junior college) route in college baseball and it was probably the best decision I’ve ever made.”

While PBA made him a better player, the team made him into a better person.

“He (PBA head coach Todd Hubka) more or less teaches you about life,” said Claerhout.

“He basically just trains you to be a hard worker and be the best version of yourself and he gets the best out of you each and every day.”

Claerhout felt like a player that was unpolished who had tools when he first arrived at PBA, but credits Hubka for improving many facets of his games and current coach Bulls head coach Ryan MacDonald who also coaches with PBA, with hitting improvements so he could become a complete player.

“I was unpolished, and they basically polished me up for the next level,” said Claerhout.

Southern Arkansas allowed Claerhout to play at a Division II School in the Great American Conference.

“I felt ready,” said Claerhout, on how PBA prepare him for NCAA.

“I knew my game was at the level that it needed to be at, to compete at that level because of PBA.”

Claerhout remembers a key developmental moment back in his first year with the Bulls in 2022.

“Through (that) June, my batting average was .189 and I will never forget it because it was the lowest it ever was,” recalls Claerhout.

“He (MacDonald) just sat me down and help me figure some stuff out and I ended up finishing the year hitting .300. So, he’s just done so much for me in my life and developed me into the person (and) player I am today.”

MacDonald help Claerhout slow the game down.

“He helped me with my approach and got me to slow things down and realize that you don’t have to be the superhero every time, and you can just go up there and be the hitter that you are and you’ll still make an impact on the game,” said Claerhout.

Claerhout is currently third in team batting average with .326 (31-for-95), which has been his best year yet at the plate.

“I’ve been more patient,” said Claerhout.