The Rockies have acquired outfielder Jake McCarthy from the Diamondbacks in exchange for right-handed pitching prospect Josh Grosz. Both teams have officially announced the trade.
Selected 39th overall by the D’Backs in the 2018 draft, McCarthy’s tenure in Arizona has been marked by trade rumors and flashes of potential. McCarthy’s first full MLB season in 2022 saw him finish fourth in NL Rookie of the Year voting, off a .283/.342/.427 slash line, eight homers, and 23 steals in 26 attempts over 354 trips to the plate. This translated to a 116 wRC+, but McCarthy’s production then drastically tailed off to a 78 wRC+ during the 2023 season, and he wasn’t involved in any of Arizona’s playoff rosters during the team’s run to the NL pennant.
The pendulum swung again in 2024 when McCarthy played in a career-high 142 games, and hit .285/.349/.400 with eight homers and 25 stolen bases over 495 PA. This past season, McCarthy had only a 60 wRC+ from a slash line of .204/.247/.345 over 222 PA, and he spent two months in Triple-A in a fruitless attempt to get his bat on track.
With a 431-game sample size to work with, McCarthy’s strengths and weaknesses are clear. He can play all three outfield positions at least passably well, and he is one of the very fastest players in baseball, ranking in no lower than the 98th percentile of speed since his debut in the Show. McCarthy makes a lot of contact, yet with very little hard contact or power, leaving him somewhat at the mercy of batted-ball luck.
Coming up as one of several left-handed hitting outfielders in the Diamondbacks farm system, McCarthy has been a trade candidate for years. During the 2023-24 offseason, the White Sox were reportedly given the option of acquiring either McCarthy or Dominic Fletcher in exchange for Cristian Mena, and Chicago opted to go with Fletcher. It is easy to second-guess the D’Backs by arguing that McCarthy could’ve garnered more of a return if they’d moved him much earlier than January 2026, though McCarthy’s up-and-down performance made him something of a difficult player for the Diamondbacks to gauge, let alone shop to trade suitors.
Even with Lourdes Gurriel Jr. set to miss most or all of the 2026 season recovering from a torn ACL, the Diamondbacks still felt comfortable moving McCarthy out of their outfield mix. McCarthy is out of minor league options, so sending him back to Triple-A again would’ve first required a trip through the waiver wire. Today’s trade allows the D’Backs to get something back in return for a player who simply no longer seemed to be in their plans.
Corbin Carroll is locked into right field and Alek Thomas will probably get the bulk of center field work. Any of Blaze Alexander, Jorge Barrosa, or utilityman Tim Tawa could be utilized in left field, plus former top prospect Jordan Lawlar played some center field in winter ball action and might also eventually get some looks in left field. The Diamondbacks could also explore adding another outfielder over the course of the offseason.
The 28-year-old McCarthy now heads to the Mile High City for a fresh start, though he’ll be joining another somewhat crowded outfield picture. If anything, there had been an expectation that the Rockies might deal from their outfield rather than add, given that it is perhaps the only real position of depth within the organization. That said, acquiring McCarthy could be the Rockies’ way of retaining their outfield depth in advance of another trade later this winter. For now, McCarthy joins Mickey Moniak, Brenton Doyle, Zac Veen, and Jordan Beck in Colorado’s outfield mix, with McCarthy probably lined up as the fifth outfielder.
Since being hired as the Rockies’ president of baseball operations in November, Paul DePodesta has swung two other trades, but this is the first that brought a brought a big league player back to Colorado in return. DePodesta has a long road ahead of him in trying to bring the Rox back to respectability, but adding a former well-regarded prospect like McCarthy is a way of both raising the talent floor, and seeing what McCarthy can perhaps do with a change of scenery. McCarthy is arbitration-controlled through the 2028 season, and is earning $1.525MM in 2026.
Grosz is on the move for the second time in less than six months, as the righty was one of the two pitching prospects the Yankees sent to the Rockies for Ryan McMahon at the last trade deadline. Grosz was an 11th-round pick for the Yankees in the 2023 draft, and he posted a 4.67 ERA, 25.2% strikeout rate, and 10.3% walk rate over 125 1/3 innings at the high-A level in 2025 (87 IP with the Yankees’ high-A affiliate, and the rest with the Rockies’ affiliate).
MLB Pipeline ranked Grosz as the 20th-best prospect in Colorado’s farm system, projecting him as a multi-inning reliever or perhaps a back-end starter. Grosz’s fastball (which sits 93-95mph with a good spin rate) is his best pitch but also “his lone better-than-average offering,” as per Pipeline’s scouting report. The 23-year-old is something of lottery ticket that the Diamondbacks can continue developing as a possible rotation piece.
So, when does Doyle get traded and what pitcher do the Rockies get back?
Probably David Nied.
Curtis Leskanic
Slot him in as our #2 starter behind Freeland then
Hehe… David Nied (nice guy, played in A-Ball -Burlington with him). Bad first pick for Rockies tho
Kenny Powers
Can’t wait to see his glorious flow in a Rockies hat.
It’s gonna flow like a feather in the wind.
Or candle if youre Elton
Brandon Webb
Kevin Ritz
Ray Burris
DOYLE RULES!
Armando Reynoso
Ewww, Grosz.
Stop.
“In the name of love….”
We can do this all day Hayzee. I’m here all week – maybe.
I’m just mad because you beat me to the punchline. Fine minds may think alike but not always at the same pace.
Lmaooo
Seems like a pretty good trade for the Rockies. He’s done well in the past, get him while he’s cheap now
He can’t hit any better than a high school bench player
He’s had two years where he’s had an above average offensive production and even with the down years is a 96 OPS+ bat so far.
At 28 with three years of control and excellent defensive chops, I think this is exactly the kind of player the Rockies should be trading for today.
padrepapi: Good point.
padrepapi: Maybe the Rockies will win 72 games instead of 71.
They’d be ecstatic with 71 or 72 wins. That would mean an improvement of 28, or 29 wins over last season.
I’ll put the over/under at 10 years and take the over. With this team a lot would have to go extremely right for them while a lot goes extremely wrong for the rest of the NL for them to get into the playoffs any time soon
How many years before colorado makes the playoffs anyone?
Considering they’ve already been eliminated before the season starts. Probably awhile.
I guess the question is how young are you, and whether you’re in good health. That may determine as to whether you ever see the Rox make the playoffs again.
Hope they dont leave him off the playoff roster when they do. Talk about Abandonment issues. Itll be like Home Alone 7, lost in space. Where’s Kevin???!!
McCarthy was injured and couldn’t play.
8-10
He’s not that good. Was lousy last year, albeit in 206 ABs.
Still better than half the players they have now
Coop- All those line drives will be homers now though!
He runs well, that big outfield could help him get some XBH. I can see Colorado taking a flier on him.
They just traded for him
Only good in even-numbered years. Should be an all-star this year.
So he’s the reverse of Bret Saberhagen?
Dbacks getting a hitter any second. seems like a win for rockies cause he can hit. no return that was worth it!
53 plate appearances at Coors, .375/.423/.500
If he can do that over 250 plate appearances….
If they change the rules and let him bat against his own team, this will be the best move ever!
I don’t understand what happened to McCarthy, looked pretty solid. I don’t mind the Rockies taking a low risk flier here.
Please don’t give manfred ideals
Slash-n-dash hitters with almost no power have to rely on luck. It’s extremely rare that many of them are consistently really good. McCarthy is fast so when the bounces are going his way it works very well, but just as often those bounces don’t work out.
I like it for both Jake and the Rockies.
As others have said, this is a decent flyer taken by the Rockies.
Does this mean that Doyle is definitely on the move? Or that they’re not too excited about what they’re seeing in Zac Veen?
Probably neither. I think it means their plan is to just keep acquiring talent since they have a serious lack of it
I would lean toward the latter. Veen has slowly moved downhill ever since he was drafted. He was thought of as arguably the best overall talent in his draft, but it has not translated to the field. There are glimmers of that talent, but he is too inconsistent. That 2020 draft is starting to look really bad at the top with a lot of disappointments in the top 10.
According to baseball reference the Rockies position players accumulated negative 5.2 WAR in 2025.
Thats amazingly terrible.
Yeah it was a brutal year for them. No Rockies offense should challenge for scoring the fewest runs in baseball calling Coors home.
Good news for Rockies fans is that should be the bottom and there are some potential monsters in the farm.
They can spend these next couple of years playing on the margins and picking up guys just like this. Let them rebound and flip them for additional prospect capital.
Why not, seems like the right thing to do. Take a flier on a hitter with speed in Coors ⚾
I think this is a good move by the Rockies. If McCarthy can bounce back like the 22-24 seasons with his speed, the Rockies will benefit.
I like McCarthy, so good deal for the Rockies and I get why Arizona moved on now.
That said, for both clubs it could be viewed as the sign of another move to come. I could easily see the D’Backs surprise everyone with a move for Tucker like they did for Burnes, albeit probably a shorter term high AAV one.
And for the Rockies, maybe a trade of Doyle could be forthcoming as well.
Intrigued.
I thought Tucker was primarily interested in east coast teams who play in the Grapefruit league during spring training so he could be closer to home. Of course… money talks. For the DBacks, I’m thinking they’re still trying to work something out to get Bregman. There had been some rumors that Alex really wanted to be in Arizona. I know… “rumors”. While either of these guys would be great for the team, I can’t help thinking rolling with Kelly, Nelson, ERod, Pfaadt and Soroka leaves a lot to be desired. Right now the team seems weaker than the 80-82 version from last year. There’s still time to improve. but not sure how much more money they can throw at it.
No doubt they need at least another pitcher, and they’ll probably get another, though I think they’ll save a high end purchase on the offense. Tucker or Bregman as you said, heck or even Bellinger.
I don’t believe McCarthy is being brought in as a Doyle replacement. He is likely taking Tyler Freeman’s spot as the 5th outfielder while Freeman moves back to the infield. McCarthy is being brought in as a back up CF that can keep Moniak out of CF when Doyle is off. If anything, this might lead to a Zac Veen and/or Yanquiel Fernandez trade because there is just no room for either of them anymore, especially Veen since his playing center was his best bet to making the roster. Trading them now while they still have SOME prospect luster makes sense, especially since neither have forced the issue of keeping them up.
But what are the prospects bringing back? There’s more teams looking for a guy to plug in now, Doyle fits that and the Rockies are nowhere near contention yet. If he could get you a prospect and maybe a SP why not?
Veen or Fernandez could probably lead a small package that would get you a vet starter that a team is looking to move like Berrios or Senga or someone else I am forgetting at the moment.
Trading Doyle at his low point for a starter makes no sense either because even if you manged to work out a 3 way deal where BOTH Skubal and Skenes ended up as Rockies, they still will not be in contention next year. So why not keep him and hope his value rebounds?
Really like this for the Rockies actually
It was either McCarthy or Alec Thomas they were going to trade this off season. They are two much alike, questionable bat, good glove, both with good speed, with below throwing arm. McCarthy was going to be a bench player for the D’Backs. I see the D’Backs giving a couple of their outfield prospects a good shot of making the ML roster out of ST..
McCarthy was always a notorious “Rockies killer” in Arizona. He always seemed to play about 100% better anytime he played against the Rockies. It will be nice to not have him against the Rox, but unfortunately he won’t be able to hit against Rockies pitchers anymore. I would say to put him in against former Rockies pitchers, but most of them are retired or in a foreign league now.
Good pickup for a team that needs to hit on some lottery tickets. I wouldn’t have minded bringing him here.
Both teams train at Talking Stick so they’ll just walk to different clubhouses.
“Have you no sense of decency, at long last?”
Seems like a nothing burger to me. Grosz’s numbers are unimpressive and will probably never be much help to AZ. And McCarthy will be just a fill-in until they’re relevant again. IMO the Rockies got a better player in the trade, but should be trading for prospects, not established players.
They don’t have many MLB players worthy of trading for prospects. Realistically their most valuable trade pieces are in the bullpen, and I’d be willing to bet they have plans to deal from that ASAP. They’ve made a very low-cost gamble on McCarthy and if he’s working his even-year magic they can flip him for a better prospect at the deadline.
Oh I agree completely, and was only speaking theoretically. The Rockies did well with this trade. That’s an excellent point about possibly flipping him at the deadline.
It seems like yesterday (but it’s been 4 years ago) that the Dbacks had a glut of young, left-handed hitting OF. They traded Varsho, then Fletcher, now a McCarthy. Only Carroll and Thomas left.
The pride of Scranton, Pennsylvania!
Always loved watching McCarthy streak around the bases, helmet flying off, hair flying in the wind. Ran like the football running back he was at Scranton!
I don’t totally get this unless another trade is in the works with a Rockies OF
I like this for the Rockies, and I seldom say that. Reminds me of the Moniak acquisition. It’s not much, but it is a small step in the right direction.
The Rockies are a mess but this isn’t a bad deal for them.
Great news for McCarthy. Somebody wants him and is willing to roster and play him. Also good news for Alek Thomas, he will be gifted another year of mlb playing and service time w/ the snakes.
They didn’t know how to pronounce his last name so they traded him
Making room for a Duran/Marte trade?
Good for Gorsz, who doesn’t have to pitch in Colorodo. Still, why outfielder?
Win win trade. B for Arizona. C for Colorado. He makes contact and runs. Didn’t give up anything hard to replace. Wouldn’t broke bank to sign someone better though. Don’t they have any young players to play? Rule 5 draft if not? Maybe they have the answer to making him significantly better.
I give it an A for Colorado. They bought low on McCarthy, and he’s instantly better than most of the players they’ve cycled through last year even if he doesn’t hit.
Arizona gets a C grade, because they sold low and Grosz wasn’t even that good in Hi-A last year.
So glad Colorado bit before my Reds could do something stupid.
My guess is that they’ll now trade Moniak for starting pitching. McCarthy is better than Moniak defensively, so he’s a better backup for Doyle. I
Pretty good trade for Colorado. Not sure if McCarthy will hit well enough to keep up his even year magic as his game heavily relies on the ever-so-fickle BABIP gods, but even at his worst he’s still better than most of the team as it stands. Should be able to cover lots of ground on defense and whenever he does get on base he’ll wreak havoc. Worth the low cost gamble.
For Arizona, I’m 50/50 whether it’s good for them or not yet. Gut reaction says it’s not. McCarthy has been so wildly inconsistent and they sold way low. This is Grosz’s scouting reports per fangraphs: “Depth starter prospect with a tough-to-time delivery and an improving changeup.” It seems like he has an average-at-best pitch mix coupled with below average command. He is an arm with a pulse though, the DBacks system could use some of those.
Doyle out on the cheap incoming
CF Johan Rojas, 1B Keaton Anthony and RHP Casey Steward for Brenton Doyle and Jaden Hill.
No, no, and no. Dream on. But, since we’re in fantasy land, we will take Schwarber for Hill. .