Diamondbacks star Corbin Carroll suffered a broken hamate bone in his right hand yesterday during batting practice, Steve Gilbert of MLB.com reports. He’s slated to undergo surgery today, per ESPN’s Jeff Passan. That’ll sideline Carroll for the majority of camp and seems likely to land him on the injured list to begin the 2026 season.
It’s an awful note on which to start camp for the D-backs and their fans. Carroll, the 2023 NL Rookie of the Year, is already a two-time All-Star and finished sixth in National League MVP voting last season after hitting .259/.343/.541 with 31 home runs, 32 doubles, 17 triples, 32 stolen bases (in 38 tries), a 10.4% walk rate and a 23.8% strikeout rate in 642 trips to the plate. No player in baseball provided more baserunning value than Carroll in 2025, per FanGraphs’ BsR metric, and he was 39% better than average at the plate by measure of wRC+.
The Diamondbacks haven’t provided a formal timetable for Carroll’s recovery and presumably won’t do so until after his surgery. It’s a relatively common injury though — as both Jackson Holliday and Francisco Lindor can attest — and typically shelves hitters for anywhere from four to eight weeks. Hamate injuries (and hand injuries in general) have a tendency to linger and impact a hitter’s power output, but every injury situation is different. Arizona should provide more details in the days ahead.
With Carroll likely IL-bound, an already uncertain D-backs outfield mix now looks even murkier. Arizona traded Jake McCarthy to the Rockies on the heels of a couple disappointing seasons earlier in the winter. Lourdes Gurriel Jr. will open the season on the injured list as he continues rehabbing last season’s torn ACL. Top prospect Jordan Lawlar was already moving from the infield to the outfield this season but now seems certain to begin the season there. Center fielder Alek Thomas is a fine defender, but he’s four seasons into his MLB career now and his bat has yet to catch up to his former top prospect status. Infielder/outfielder Blaze Alexander was traded to the Orioles just last week.
Suffice it to say, outfield options on Arizona’s roster are thin, at best. Lawlar and Thomas are likely locked into starting roles by default. First baseman/designated hitter Pavin Smith has some experience in the outfield corners but has graded as a poor defender. The recent signing of Carlos Santana was originally intended to give the lefty-swinging Smith a strong platoon partner at first base, but Santana could play first base with Smith temporarily patrolling an outfield corner.
Outfielder Jorge Barrosa is on the 40-man roster and out of minor league options, but he’s a .148/.170/.239 hitter in 95 big league plate appearances with a league-average track record at the Triple-A level. Infielder/outfielder Tim Tawa belted 31 Triple-A homers in 2024 but hit just .201/.274/.347 in 205 MLB plate appearances this past season; he’s spent a lot more time in the infield during his pro career but does have 1519 innings of outfield experience.
If the D-backs feel particularly aggressive, they could fast-track Ryan Waldschmidt, the No. 31 overall pick in 2024, to the big leagues. The 23-year-old has yet to even suit up in Triple-A but torched opposing pitcher in both High-A and Double-A last season. In a combined 601 plate appearances (split evenly between the two levels), the University of Kentucky product slashed .289/.419/.473 with 18 homers, 27 doubles, four triples, 29 steals (39 attempts), a 16% walk rate and a 17.6% strikeout rate. Baseball America currently ranks Waldschmidt as the game’s No. 48 overall prospect.
It’s also possible, of course, that the D-backs look to bring in some outfield help from outside the organization. As stated, it was already a relatively thin mix — at least in terms of established options — so even scooping up a veteran on a minor league contract with a non-roster invitation to spring training might’ve been prudent. Mike Tauchman, Mark Canha and old friend Randal Grichuk are among the more notable unsigned names still lingering on the market. Spring training naturally brings up opportunities to scoop up other veterans as they opt out of minor league deals and/or less-experienced players who find themselves designated for assignment when other clubs make final additions. The D-backs could monitor both markets as they look to bring in some depth in light of Carroll’s injury.
Ban injuries..
Giants – Seriously, what’s going on?
Carroll
Holliday
Lindor
All with hamate injuries? Weird.
Oprah’s giving them out this month.
nice…except she is too busy trying to figure out how to help her buddy harvey weinstein.
We have a new injury of the year! No more Lat strain it’s a Hammate fest!
Illuminati lol
Pay attention kids,
If you project as a contact hitter early on,
Just go ahead and have these pesky bones removed in high school.
Its the Hamate Mandate
Holy sucks. I guess he’s also not playing for the WBC. What do happens? Does USA get a new player in replacement?
I’m squeezing into my baseball oats as we speak.
Isn’t this the 3rd or 4th star to have hamate surgery in the last 2 weeks? Crazy.
Here comes lawlar to the of
Hamate fighters play in JAPAN
There are no Americans anymore to fight the Hamate. Sad.
Hamate injury epidemic.
or just popular
What the hell? Can we at least name this surgery after a baseball player so we know what the hell everyone’s talking about? Tommy John Surgery–easily understandable.
I vote this surgery be called Brad Hand Surgery, Joel Handrahan (intentionally misspelled) Surgery, or Jim Palmer Surgery.
Jim Palmer surgery is what I call my “alone time”.
That’s Richard Palmer Surgery. Really more of a therapy unless you are doing it wrong.
or doing it very right.
Ricky Bones surgery.
First time I remember someone breaking their hamate was Griffey Jr.
Since Tommy John surgery involves removing damaged tissue, maybe a doctor can invent a hamate surgery that removes bone. It should be named after Mordicai “Three Finger” Brown.
What is up with all the hamate surgeries!?
Just spitballing – better detection and data. Guys used to get a cortisone shots hoping the bone heals itself while playing through the injury. Now we know they’re better off getting surgery.
Yankees, we had just a bunch of true and blue dirtbag big dogs out there.
You could also chalk it up to the fact the salaries were much lower in comparison to the national average. Adjusted to inflation, I believe the players, on average, made like 20x more than the average US salary in 1980. Now it’s about 80x more.
Being treated more as a fragile, high-end investment to the suits and less of a need to push beyond what is necessary with higher guarantees could factor on top of your analysis.
Also, to get more scientific with it, I think we have more sissies out there!
this mfer hamate
What the heck?! Ooof that’s a bad one.
Sucks. He’s a lot of fun to watch and would’ve been a good addition to Team USA.
Maybe teams should look for guys who don’t have hamate bones.
That’s some real moneyball thinking
Like R. A. Dickey with his elbow tendon?
And ligaments in their elbows
Unfortunate. He’s fun to watch.
Maybe Carroll and Hollidah can share the same harambe
RULE #1 = Don’t swing at pitches that are going to hit you.
RULE #2 = Get out of the way of pitches that are going to hit you.
RULE #3 = Keep your hands away from pitches on the inside corner.
Do that but hamate injuries can be caused by repetitive tasks like swinging a bat over a long time and nothing else.
except hamate injuries come from swinging the bat, not from getting hit
And they don’t stop coming and they don’t stop coming and…
Good thing we traded Alexander and McCarthy, eh? The OF group of Barrosa, Lawlar, Tawa, Thomas, and whoever else (the only current NRIs are Robinson, Troy, Vukovich, and Waldschmidt) is VERY short on expected production.
At least they’ll have a longer leash, I guess…
@Heat. Feels to me like Waldschmidt just made Opening Day. Carroll won’t be out too deep into the year ideally, so if he falters, they keep rookie status in tact.
Hamates take a while to come back from, and usually result in lower power output post surgery..at least for a season or so..
4-8 week recovery from the injury. Power will take a lot longer. Spring training starting early for the WBC helps all these teams minimize the time the stars will be off the field at least.
Hey Arizona, the Red Sox will trade you Yoshida for a six pack of Corona Extra and a Taco Bell gift card as long as you pick up 75% of his salary.
6 pack of Corona Extra? At least make it a good beer. Dos Equis Lager or Modelo with a line. Make it with their while.
How do 3 players have the same exact fractured bone in their hand? First Francisco Lindor, then Jackson Holliday and now Corbin Carroll.
It’s the Dodgers’ fault.
By hitting a hardball with a hard bat for a living. The more contact, the bigger chance. Pablo Sandoval broke both in his early career, and he had fat hands..
That’s true but they all broke it within a week of each other. That doesn’t happen a whole lot.
Baseball activity ramping up this time of year, but yes kinda weird this week.
This apparently is Bad Bunny’s fault. Carroll got carried away during the halftime show and slapped a few too many tweerkin booties.
That’s because he didn’t say “high five slap a$$” after each time. Karma is real.
This injury is the least worrisome of any broken bones BTW. They simply remove the hamate bone so recovery is fast and there are no residual affects. Pablo Sandoval broke both hands and was out about 5 weeks. If that guy can recover in 5 weeks I’m pretty sure Carroll will be back end of March at the latest.
Seriously what’s with all the Hamate Injuries?
Whole Milk lost popularity.
It’s do or die for Lawlar now.
Maybe the Dbacks could trade two years of Eduardo Hernandez’s bad contract for Nick Castellanos’ bad contract, which has one year remaining? Then they might be able to re-sign Gallen, perhaps?
Phillies need another starter after losing FA Suarez to Boston and Wheeler likely to miss the start of the season. Phils seem likely to eat a large chunk of Castellanos’ contract since they’ve already signed his replacement for RF.
I blame torpedo bats
Dunno if he’s one of the guys that grip the bat wrong, but they should beware. I’m taking about the guys that have the knob in their palm. It’s a bad technique.
I like the idea of signing Tauchman. He would be a good player in the outfield mix over the course of the whole year, even after Lourdes comes back.
Terrible. I had him leading the D-Backs to a world series championship… I guess they’ll now be last place.
I’ve never heard of MLB players having this injury up until a year or two ago. Did they call it something else back in the day, or is there something different about the training or equipment that’s causing it? Maybe guys are chasing exit velocity like pitchers are chasing velo?
Hamate injury is caused by constant force of vibrations during hitting by knob of the bat. One of the reasons this injury is more prevalent in today’s game is how today’s players practice. Swing, Swing, Swing and more swings in the cage versus high speed pitching machines. This form of practice has lead to a rash of hamate (and the dreaded) Oblique injuries. When I coached, during spring training, we worried just as much about injuries as we did about getting players ready.