Greysen Carter squatted in the charred ruins of what used to be his family’s home, his right arm slung around his sister, Peyton, as they surveyed the wildfire devastation that had ripped so swiftly through their hometown of Louisville, Colo.

It was December 2021, five days after Christmas, and the promising right-hander was on winter break from his freshman year at Vanderbilt University. He’d just performed a few reps of a morning workout when his cell phone buzzed. It was his mother, Michelle; there was urgency in her voice. They were being told to evacuate.

The Carters hustled to safety, but encroaching flames swallowed their neighborhood in what would become known as the Marshall Fire, Colorado’s most destructive fire in terms of buildings destroyed. As Carter told The Tennessean, he had left school with two suitcases and a duffel bag; he returned to campus carrying just the duffel bag.

“I just had to kind of figure out what I needed to focus on,” said Carter, who was selected by the Yankees on Monday in the fifth round of the MLB Draft. “I would always just keep in touch with my family and figure out what's really going on. But I guess those first couple of weeks coming back from it, it was still kind of a shock, and that's kind of how it was the whole year.”

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Nothing seemed to go as expected during that freshman season for Carter, a Fairview High (Boulder, Colo.) standout touted as the state’s top overall prospect by Perfect Game. He pitched in five games and failed to impress, walking 10 batters in 5 1/3 innings. With Vanderbilt facing a roster crunch, Carter was cut from the team after the season.

It was a stinging disappointment for Carter, who performed better in a five-game stint with Keene in the New England Collegiate Baseball League, then pondered his next move. He traveled to California for sessions with a private coach, who helped to add more power to his delivery, then planned to transfer to a junior college where he could log innings in hopes of attracting another Division I program.

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Instead, Vanderbilt pitching coach Scott Brown reached out to Carter in July 2022, inviting him to rejoin the team.

“I was like, ‘Hell yeah, let’s do it,’” Carter told The Tennessean. “So it was -- I mean, that whole year was an up and down of a lot of emotions. So it was probably as crazy a year as I’ve ever had in my life.”

Carter’s performance improved as a sophomore, as he posted a 4.08 ERA in 13 games (seven starts). Control was still an issue, but Carter generated more swings and misses. He credited the work in California; a pescatarian, he was also packing on pounds while growing stronger, eating more fish to add protein to his diet.

Packing on about 45 pounds after his freshman year, Carter boasted a fastball that crackled between 97-99 mph, having previously topped out at 96. Soon, Carter hit triple digits for the first time, his heart leaping as he snuck a glance at the scoreboard.

“I didn’t know I could do it,” he said. “The work paid off.”

His coaches and teammates noticed the improvement, as did scouts, who could dream upon the fastball/slider/changeup arsenal. Coming off a sharp performance in the Cape Cod League (1.88 ERA in 2023), Carter continued to light up the radar gun at Vanderbilt, though his Trackman numbers remained more impressive than his game stats.

He threw a 103 mph pitch in a February game against Gonzaga, but finished the year with a 6.58 ERA and three saves in 18 games (four starts). Carter’s best performance came on March 28 against Missouri, when he struck out 11 over 8 1/3 innings, permitting no earned runs on three hits.

On Tuesday’s MLB Draft broadcast, analyst Melanie Newman noted Carter’s 31 walks and nine wild pitches in 39 2/3 innings, referring to him as “a Nuke LaLoosh-style Commodore.”

It was a not-so-flattering comparison to Tim Robbins’ raw and wild fireballer in the 1988 film “Bull Durham.” However, in the movie’s final act, Robbins’ character jumps to The Show with guidance from his veteran catcher.

The Yankees believe that with access to their coaches and “gas station” pitching development facility in Tampa, Fla., they can play that Crash Davis role to help Carter reach the next levels.

“[Carter is] one of the better stories of improvement that we have seen here, and it’s only beginning,” said Vanderbilt head coach Tim Corbin. “He’s an animal.”