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Corbin Carroll suffered a left knee contusion while colliding with the wall during a catch attempt in tonight’s 11-4 Diamondbacks victory over the Rockies. In the sixth inning, Carroll leapt to try and catch a Ryan McMahon fly ball, but both jumped and landed at an awkward angle, as McMahon’s hit ricocheted off the wall for what ended up as an RBI double. Carroll was visited by team trainers and left the field under his own power, though looked to be in obvious discomfort.
After the game, D’Backs manager Torey Lovullo told reporters (including Bally Sports Arizona) that Carroll’s knee hit only the padded area of the wall. “All the tests have come back very very positive, and he’s day to day….we dodged a bullet,” Lovullo said. This is certainly good news for Carroll, and the Diamondbacks also have off-days on both Monday and Thursday, so he might miss only three games if he does need a bit of extra time to deal with any lingering soreness.
Entering the season as a favorite for NL Rookie Of The Year honors, Carroll has been living up to those expectations, hitting .309/.374/.536 with four homers and 10 steals (from 12 chances) over 107 plate appearances. Mostly splitting time between left field and right field, defensive metric are a little mixed on Carroll’s glovework, but there is no doubt about his overall value. Carroll has already generated 1.1 fWAR over his first 27 games of 2023, a total topped by only 15 other players in the majors at this early stage of the season.
Carroll was the 16th overall pick of the 2019 draft, and quickly shot up prospect ranking boards despite the canceled 2020 minor league season and a shoulder injury that cost him all but seven games of the 2021 season. Returning in prime form in 2022, Carroll hit .307/.425/.611 with 24 home runs and 31 stolen bases (in 36 chances) over 442 combined PA over three of Arizona’s minor league affiliates, and then made a quick impact in his first exposure to Major League pitching. Called up for his MLB debut late last August, Carroll hit .260/.330/.500 over his first 115 PA in the Show.
Even prior to Carroll’s great start to the 2023 campaign, the D’Backs had already seen enough to make a long-term commitment to the outfielder, agreeing in March to an eight-year contract extension worth at least $111MM. That deal is already looking like a wise investment, as Carroll is both playing well and leading the Diamondbacks to a 16-12 record and first place in the NL West. Filling in for Carroll won’t be difficult for Arizona if it’s only for a couple of games, as Lourdes Gurriel Jr. or Pavin Smith can handle corner outfield duty in the interim.
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