SCOTTSDALE — Arizona Diamondbacks outfielder Corbin Carroll smoked his first home run of spring training on Monday, and to fans at Salt River Fields, it may have looked a bit different from a year ago.
Carroll has tweaked his bat positioning when he sets up in the batter’s box, tilting the thunder stick from nearly flat more upwards.
He started to change the position of his bat in the second half of last year, and this winter he focused on refinement to find a comfortable spot to fire from.
“It doesn’t really feel much different,” Carroll told Arizona Sports. “I mean, maybe a little bit, just trying to keep it a little bit more vertical, a little bit less flat. Just kind of working, feeling through it. I’ve got a goal of what I’m trying to get it to accomplish for me.”
That goal: “Have a better hand position to fire from, keep my hands up higher a little later. I think that’ll help with some sequencing stuff and having them in their spots.”
August 20204:
CORBIN CARROLL GAME-TYING HOME RUN DOWN TO THE LAST STRIKE pic.twitter.com/0NoLdPXkSR
— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) August 17, 2024
September 2024:
Corbin Carroll goes deep to get the Dbacks started! pic.twitter.com/Du2EdjA9Fd
— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) September 18, 2024
February 2025:
Corbin Carroll (1)
Opponent: Cleveland Guardians Pitcher: Slade Cecconi Date: 02/24/2025 pic.twitter.com/mx8JlrrZNY
— Diamondbacks Home Runs (@DbacksHomers) February 24, 2025
Carroll launched a high breaking ball from former teammate Slade Cecconi 423 feet on Monday in a 4-3 win over the Cleveland Guardians.
Manager Torey Lovullo noticed the slight change in stance during batting practice along the backfields earlier this spring and asked his young superstar about it.
“We talked about, I guess, shortening the path to the ball,” Lovullo said on Monday. “Creating better angles to certain pitches. It’s not hindering his ability to hit the pitch as well as he’s normally hitting, so he feels like that’s a good starting spot for him.”
The 24-year-old is coming off a season in which his first half personified the classic “sophomore slump” (.635 OPS, five home runs) while his second half was fantastic (.919 OPS, 17 home runs).
He managed to score 121 runs, fifth in Major League Baseball, and steal 35 bases, eighth in MLB.
Carroll came off his 2023 Rookie of the Year campaign and made tweaks that resulted in a flat bat path that hampered his ability to drive the ball, but he adjusted to the league as it had to him.
When asked whether he had reservations about making changes this winter, he told Arizona Sports’ Burns & Gambo, “I’m always gonna feel like I can get better, and that’s a road I’ll take 10 times out of 10. But, I think maybe a little bit of refinement to that process, to that filter in which I look at things through.”
Carroll was the engine of Arizona’s offense in 2023, while Ketel Marte was Arizona’s most valuable offensive player last year to finish third in NL MVP voting.
When Carroll really started to hum last year in August, Marte was in and out of the lineup and eventually on the injured list due to an ankle injury. The D-backs don’t expect to have the top scoring offense in baseball again, but having those two firing at the same time sets up one of the toughest 1-2 punches for the league to deal with.
Corbin Carroll pleased with how he handled adversity
Through all the frustration from how last year started for Carroll, he takes pride in how he handled himself in the clubhouse and with his work. His teammates and manager at the time agreed, and he credited teammates for allowing him to figure his swing out without applying pressure.
“I think you can say you’re a good teammate when things are going well, it’s really easy to do that,” Carroll said. “I was pretty proud of myself in the way that I felt I didn’t take anyone down with me. I felt like I was a good teammate the whole time, came to work every day ready to ready to go.”
He even received some help from a former teammate whose impact on the club remains.
“Evan Longoria said to me there’s just years where you go out there and things don’t feel right and you learn to adapt and learn to get through that,” Lovullo said last week. “‘I had years where I hit .230 but had productive moments and helped the team win.’ And I think he passed that along to Corbin, and Corbin ended up having a really solid year despite some very rugged circumstances.”
Diamondbacks spring training notes
– Ace pitcher Zac Gallen made his Cactus League season debut and threw one inning for 15 pitches. He struck out a pair of hitters and allowed a home run to Gabriel Arias on a changeup he said came out flat.
“The first one’s always interesting, but I felt fine. Everything had its shapes for the most part,” Gallen said.
Lovullo initially said the plan was for Gallen to throw two innings, but that was a mix up.
Gallen also wasted no time using the automated ball-strike (ABS) system, challenging the second pitch of the game. Perhaps he caught Salt River Fields by surprise as the delay was notably longer than usual, but Gallen was right and ended up striking out Angel Martinez.
“It’s great now because I’m 1-for-1,” Gallen said. “I had talked about it the other day, trying to figure out when to challenge. What’s a good time to challenge? I think our catchers do a really good job at the bottom of the zone. They fool me a lot. So the pitches that I think get pulled across the strike zone I’m probably more likely to challenge on my own. … It was honestly just pure instinct. I’m like, why not in spring training?”
– Joe Mantiply will start on Tuesday against the Chicago Cubs at Sloan Park. Corbin Burnes is set for Wednesday, Brandon Pfaadt Thursday and Merrill Kelly on Friday. The D-backs have leaned on minor league arms to fill innings, but more of their major leaguers will enter games this week.
– Eduardo Rodriguez is a bit behind the other starters in terms of readiness to pitch in games, but Lovullo said not to read too much into that. There are no health concerns for the start of his season, Lovullo said.
– Jordan Montgomery, meanwhile, will throw a bullpen session on Tuesday.
– Relief pitcher Thyago Vieira has been shut down due to right shoulder, elbow and knee discomfort, per Lovullo.
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