Corbin Carroll

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Corbin Franklin Carroll

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Biographical Information[edit]

Outfielder Corbin Carroll was selected in the 1st round of the 2019 amateur draft by the Arizona Diamondbacks, out of the Lakeside School in Seattle, WA. He was the 16th player taken that year. He was assigned to the AZL Diamondbacks to begin his pro career, playing 31 games before being promoted to the Hillsboro Hops of the Northwest League, where he payed a further 11 games. His combined batting line in 42 games was .299/.409/.487, and he collected 7 triples in that limited time-span. He was then forced to sit out the 2020 season when the Coronavirus pandemic shut down the minor leagues.

He was off to a great start in 2021, back with Hillsboro, which had by then been promoted two levels to the High-A West as a result of the Minor League Reorganization that preceded the season. In his first week, he went 10 for 23 with a double, two triples and two homers before a shoulder injury, supposedly sustained when he hit the second of the homers, ended his season very prematurely. In spite of all the time missed, he kept on climbing the prospect rankings during that time and entered spring training in 2022 ranked the #20 prospect in baseball according to Baseball America.

He was named to the National League team for the 2022 Futures Game. Shortly after the announcement, he was promoted to the AAA Reno Aces; he had been hitting .313 with 16 homers and 39 RBIs for the AA Amarillo Sod Poodles. In his first game for Reno on July 10th, he went deep against the Tacoma Rainiers. he was hitting .287 in 33 games for Reno when he received the call to join the major league team. He made his debut on August 29, 2022, starting in right field and batting eighth against the Philadelphia Phillies. He went 1 for 5 with 2 runs and 2 RBIs in a 13-7 win, his first major league being a double off Cristopher Sánchez. The Diamondbacks pulled off a huge comeback in that game, as they were trailing 7-0 in the middle of the 4th before putting 6 runs on the scoreboard in both the 4th and 5th innings. Corbin reached on an error and scored in the 4th, and hit his double, good for two runs, putting the Diamondbacks ahead for the first time, the next inning. He hit .260 in 32 games, with 4 homers and 14 RBIs.

On March 11, 2023, he was signed by the Diamondbacks to an eight-year contract extension worth $111 million. He rewarded his team's confidence with a great first half, that saw the team take a surprising lead in the NL West and himself be elected as a starter in the 2023 All-Star Game. He was named the NL Rookie of the Month for June when he hit .291 with 8 homers and 22 RBIs while scoring 25 runs and stealing 8 bases. He was named to the NL squad for the 2023 All-Star Game but on July 6th he injured his shoulder while swinging in a game against the New York Mets. The injury turned out to be minor and he was able to start the game played at T-Mobile Park in his hometown of Seattle, WA in left field. On August 27th, he recorded his 40th stolen base of the season in a 5-2 win over the Cincinnati Reds, becoming only the fourth rookie to have a season of 20 homers and 40 steals. Preceding him had been Tommie Agee (1966), Mitchell Page (1977) and Mike Trout (2012). The landmark steal came shortly after he had broken a long homer drought, as his 22nd homer on August 24th had been his first since July 23rd. On September 20th, he reached two milestones in the same game, hitting his 25th homer and also stealing his 49th and 50th bases of the season in a 7-1 win over the San Francisco Giants. Needless to say, he was the first rookie ever to reach both numbers in one season, and only Cesar Cedeno had accomplished the feat at age 22 or younger, like Corbin, albeit not in his rookie year. He finished the season at .285 in 155 games, with 25 doubles and 76 RBIs. He led the National League with 10 triples and also scored 116 runs, was 54 for 59 in stolen base attempts, and finished with an OPS+ of 134. The D-backs went on a Cinderella run in the postseason that took them all the way to the World Series. In the four round, he went 18 for 66 (.273) overall, with 11 runs and 10 RBIs. He was a unanimous selection for the 2023 National League Rookie of the Year Award. He was the first player in D-Backs history to receive the honor.

Carroll had a bad sophomore slump at the start of the 2024 season. He hit only .213 in 94 games with 5 homers and 32 RBIs during the first half of the season and did not look at all like the electric player who was a leader on the D-Backs the previous year. The only part of his game that seemed to hold up well was the running game, as he had 18 steals over that span, and three of his five homers had come in the last seven games. It was a different story after the All-Star break however, and it coincided with Arizona finding its groove as a team as well: on July 9th, the team was two games below .500 and ten games back in the NL West, seemingly out of postseason contention. They did win four of their last five games before the break, and got very hot in the second half. In August, they won 17 of their first 22 games to improve to 19 games over .500 and close the gap with the Los Angeles Dodgers to just 3 games, coinciding with a rebirth by Corbin, who had again found his power stroke and had already exceeded his league-leading total of triples from the previous season. He was named the NL Player of the Month for August after batting .280 with 11 homers and 24 RBIs for an OPS+ of 1.080 during the month.

Notable Achievements[edit]


NL Rookie of the Year
2022 2023 2024
Michael Harris Corbin Carroll Paul Skenes

Further Reading[edit]

  • David Adler: "The 165-lb. power-hitting speedster who's a surprise MVP favorite", mlb.com, June 14, 2023. [1]
  • Michael Avallone: "Carroll comes up Aces, homers in Triple-A debut", mlb.com, July 11, 2022. [2]
  • Jack Baer: "Diamondbacks rookie Corbin Carroll reportedly agrees to 8-year, $111 million deal after 32 career games", Yahoo! Sports, March 10, 2023. [3]
  • Jesus Cano: "Carroll continues ROY chase as 4th rookie of 20/40 club", mlb.com, August 27, 2023. [4]
  • AJ Cassavell: "Carroll 'rising to the occasion' on postseason stage", mlb.com, October 11, 2023. [5]
  • Steve Gilbert: "D-backs to call up top prospect Corbin Carroll (source)", mlb.com, August 28, 2022. [6]
  • Steve Gilbert: "Corbin Carroll's path to big league stardom starts with family", mlb.com, August 29, 2022. [7]
  • Steve Gilbert: "Carroll debuts, fuels biggest comeback in D-backs history", mlb.com, August 30, 2022. [8]
  • Steve Gilbert: "Top prospect Carroll signs 8-year extension with D-backs", mlb.com, March 11, 2023. [9]
  • Steve Gilbert: "The phenom you don’t want to miss in the LCS", mlb.com, October 13, 2023. [10]
  • Steve Gilbert: "Carroll takes home D-backs' first Rookie of Year Award unanimously: Outfielder proud to help Arizona secure an additional Draft pick with win", mlb.com, November 13, 2023. [11]
  • Steve Gilbert: "How Carroll developed a love for baseball cards", mlb.com, August 15, 2024. [12]
  • Brian Murphy: "The time Corbin Carroll was rescued by a D-backs legend", mlb.com, February 1, 2024. [13]
  • Brian Murphy: "How Corbin Carroll turned his season around at the plate", mlb.com, August 25, 2024. [14]
  • Juan Toribio: "'He's a superstar': Carroll leads D-backs in Game 7 win", mlb.com, October 25, 2023. [15]

Related Sites[edit]

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