Built by baseball: Carsten Sabathia III’s lifelong love for the game

Senior infielder Carsten Sabathia III has had a love for baseball from the moment he first opened his eyes. From watching entire games as a child and seeing his Hall-of-Fame father, CC, dominate the mound to becoming a power-hitting infielder for Houston, “America’s Pastime” has always been Sabathia’s passion.

“I’ve been into baseball my whole life, I joke a lot that I came out of the womb with a bat,” Sabathia said. “When I was a kid, a really young kid, I would be able to sit down and watch full nine-inning games and understand what’s going on and know different things within the game.”

Sabathia was the third-rated first baseman coming out of high school by Perfect Game USA and spent his first two collegiate seasons at Georgia Tech. When he transferred to UH, Houston’s baseball program was going through a transitional period. 

His first season at Houston in 2025 coincided with the program’s second year in the Big 12 Conference. The Cougars won seven conference games in their inaugural Big 12 season and aimed to increase that number with Sabathia’s help.

Houston believed it was on the verge of noticeable progress and wanted someone who could help lead the team.

“They told me, ‘Hey, we think you can help us win, [we can use] whatever you bring to the table in terms of your ability and leadership,” Sabathia said.

Houston’s emphasis on character, leadership and personal growth drew Sabathia to the program. It was evident that there were strong bonds between the teammates.

“We’re all about character here, all about building young men and that’s what I’m all about, becoming a better man,” Sabathia said. “All the things that I’ve learned from the staff, being around the guys here, it’s all come together to make me who I am.”

And Sabaithia understands character means appreciating the position one is in life. When something is a mainstay in one’s life for an extended period, let alone since formative years, it can eventually become easy to overlook. 

But he doesn’t.

He understands that baseball is a game and uses the time to enjoy what he loves doing. 

“There’s times to kick back and enjoy because we get to play a game, and sometimes you can lose sight of that and get lost in the competitive nature,” he said. “We’ve been playing since we were little, so we try to enjoy it.”

When it comes to playing the game of baseball, Sabathia believes that its hardships offer lessons that can be applied to many aspects of life.

In baseball, one will never have everything figured out. Baseball is a metaphor for his life.

“The greatest guys in this game fail seven out of 10 times,” Sabathia said. “I think knowing that you’ll never have it figured out is kind of like that toxic ex-girlfriend that you have where you just can’t get away, but you know something bad’s going to happen, but when something does go right, it gets your heart going a little bit.”

Growing up around the Yankees’ dugout in the middle of the Derek Jeter era and witnessing endless high-magnitude games as a child built a characteristic that allows him to maintain composure, no matter what may get thrown his way. That composure has been crucial in his baseball journey, and his understanding that the journey’s speed varies.

“Knowing that there’s so much baseball ahead and that it’s a marathon, not a sprint, and being able to think long term and take each day as it comes, I think it really, really helped me,” Sabathia said.

Even during a time when everyone in the world was thrown something unfortunate, Sabathia stayed on the straight path, and his father was right there with him. During the COVID-19  pandemic, the two kept a simple but tedious schedule: eat, sleep, hit. With some time to spend with the family, of course.

“It was a time I cherish a lot because I was able to really enjoy time with [the family] and spend that time with them,” Sabathia said. “That was a lot of the time where my body grew, and I grew into my body, and it was a really awesome time for me. I was able to just develop and hone in on different things, different aspects within my game.”

Sabathia prefers staying inside the house anyway and is a self-proclaimed “homebody”, which he said made the pandemic experience easier. He enjoys music that can help keep him relaxed, both before games and in daily life. His favorite genre is neo-soul type music, with Lauryn Hill and D’Angelo being some of his go-to artists. As for a legitimate pre-game ritual, he prefers talking to his teammates and kicking back before the game’s competitiveness takes over.

Between games and downtime, Sabathia still chases greatness and works every day to perfect his craft. The extra time spent with his father allowed his approach to that chase to be smoother. It also let him realize that not everything is in his control. 

“I think a lot of what we talked about [such as] the process, the work that you put in, how you prepare, you know, you don’t know what result you’re going to get,” Sabathia said. “You can do everything right and line out to the shortstop and go 0-for-4.”

Living around the game of baseball has given Sabathia many different outlooks on the human experience through a lens that people normally don’t see. Although his path of growing up with a Hall-of-Fame pitcher and existing among the best the game can offer is unique, it has shaped a principle that he lives by. One possessing wisdom that can be connected through every path possible.

“Every day is a new day, every day is a new opportunity, every day you get is a blessing in of itself and what you do with it kind of determines the results you’re going to get,” Sabathia said. “You can’t always control the result, which is something you have to learn within the game and within your life. But I think knowing that you gave everything you can and were the best version of yourself that day, you can lay your head at night knowing you gave everything, regardless of the result.”