Latest On Merrill Kelly, Corbin Carroll
The Diamondbacks have already had to deal with an unwelcome number of injury scares to key players, though Sunday’s news brought some optimism that Merrill Kelly and Corbin Carroll could both still be a part of the Opening Day roster.
Right at the very start of Spring Training, Carroll underwent surgery to fix a broken hamate bone in his right hand, putting him out of action for roughly 4-to-8 weeks (the usual timeline following such procedures). Last weekend, Kelly was scratched from throwing a live batting practice session due to some back soreness, and the discomfort persisted even though both an MRI and CT scan came back clean. Officially, the diagnosis is intercostal nerve irritation, according to the D’Backs.
It was enough for Kelly to tell the media last Wednesday that he was likely going to be starting the season on the 15-day injured list, though his outlook was different today. Kelly told MLB.com’s Steve Gilbert and other reporters that he received an injection of cortisone and lidocaine earlier this week, and had a pain-free session of catch today. While Kelly won’t act as the Diamondbacks’ Opening Day starter on March 26, the aim is for Kelly to now pitch at the back of Arizona’s rotation, which would line the righty up for his season debut during the team’s second series of the year.
The D’Backs begin the 2026 campaign with three games in Los Angeles against the Dodgers, and then after an off-day, return home for a seven-game homestand against the Tigers and Braves. Given the March 29 off-day, the Snakes could technically delay Kelly’s first start beyond the first five games, though that would leave the club essentially playing a man short until Kelly is ready to take the mound.
With more than three weeks to go until Opening Day, there is still time for Kelly to restart his throwing progression and get fully ready to go, assuming his good health persists. Even if Kelly is only built up to throw something like 50-60 pitches, the D’Backs could use a piggyback starter or lean on the bullpen during the veteran’s first start. On the flip side, Arizona could also simply place Kelly on the IL to give him extra time to heal up, and make sure he is ready to hit the ground running once he takes the mound.
As for Carroll, it has been a little under three weeks since his February 11 surgery, but he described his progress as “definitely ahead of schedule.” The outfielder told Gilbert and other reporters that he started catching fly balls (Carroll’s right hand is his glove hand) today, and he has started to hit with both hands on the bat.
“It’s very low intensity, like flips and tee [work]….I think some other guys that have gone through a hamate injury were happy to see where I am [given] how far I am out of surgery,” Carroll said.
Manager Torey Lovullo described Carroll’s process as “right up to that line of doing too much. He’s pushing as hard as he can and as far as he can, and we love that. So we’ll continue to get updates from [hand surgeon] Don Sheridan and our medical team about what the next steps are, but yeah, he’s doing really, really well.”
Being able to hit and catch normally without any discomfort is only part of Carroll’s path to recovery, as he’ll then have to try and make up for time lost during Spring Training. Carroll has been taking part in other baseball activities, so he won’t be starting from square one once he is fully cleared. It then becomes a question of how many Cactus League games Carroll may be able to play in before March 26, and how many he’ll need before he feels properly ramped up for the regular season.
MLBTR Podcast: The Tigers’ Rotation, A Brewers-Red Sox Trade, And Late Free-Agent Signings
The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.
This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Anthony Franco of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…
- Tarik Skubal winning his arbitration hearing against the Tigers (1:30)
- The Tigers loading up the rotation by signing Framber Valdez and also Justin Verlander but losing Reese Olson for the year (13:25)
- The six-player trade between the Red Sox and Brewers headlined by Caleb Durbin and Kyle Harrison, with Milwaukee then signing Luis Rengifo (24:15)
- The Orioles signing Chris Bassitt and losing Jackson Holliday to injury (35:35)
- The Diamondbacks signing Zac Gallen and potentially losing Corbin Carroll to the injured list (44:30)
- The Braves losing Spencer Schwellenbach and maybe Hurston Waldrep while showing little urgency about bolstering the rotation (52:20)
- Tony Clark stepping down as MLBPA executive director, recorded as the news was still trickling out (59:15)
Check out our past episodes!
- Twins Front Office Shake-Up, The Brendan Donovan Trade, Eugenio Suarez, And More! – listen here
- Examining MLB’s Parity Situation – Also, Bellinger, Peralta, Robert, And Gore – listen here
- What The Tucker And Bichette Contracts Mean For Baseball – Also, Nolan Arenado And Ranger Suarez – listen here
The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff. Check out their Facebook page here!
Photo courtesy of Junfu Han, Imagn Images
Corbin Carroll To Undergo Surgery For Hamate Fracture
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 pitchers 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.
D-backs Have Listened To Offers On Outfield Depth
The Diamondbacks remain on the fringes of the NL postseason picture, sitting five and a half games out in the Wild Card chase. General manager Mike Hazen has said he hopes the team performs well enough to position itself as a late buyer, but the GM has also at least been listening to offers on some of his outfielders, Jon Heyman of the New York Post reports. That does not include star Corbin Carroll, unsurprisingly, but Heyman suggests names like Alek Thomas, Jake McCarthy, Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and Randal Grichuk have likely been discussed.
Of the four outfielders, Grichuk is the most obvious trade candidate. He’s playing the 2025 season on a one-year, $5MM contract. He’ll unlock a $250K bonus when he reaches his 200th plate appearance — he’s currently at 174 — and another $250K if he reaches 275 plate appearances.
Grichuk’s contract is structured such that Grichuk is owed a $2MM salary and a $3MM buyout on a $5MM mutual option for next year. That makes him a bit more expensive for the rest of the season than a standard one-year, $5MM contract would imply; he’d have about $634K in salary remaining at the time of the trade deadline but also that $3MM buyout and some potential incentive pay. Of course, the D-backs could make a trade more appealing by including cash to offset some of that backloaded 2025 salary.
The 2025 season hasn’t been Grichuk’s best, but he’s still hitting for power. The 33-year-old is batting .242/.282/.466 with seven homers, 13 doubles and a triple in his 174 trips to the plate. His 5.7% walk rate is right in line with his career mark. His 21.6% strikeout rate is down from his career level of about 25% but noticeably higher than the personal-best 16.5% clip he turned in last year in a more productive season with the Snakes.
Gurriel, 31, is a tougher sell from a trade standpoint. He’s being paid $14MM this season and is guaranteed $13MM in 2026 plus at least a $5MM buyout on a $14MM club option for the 2027 season. His .251/.299/.421 batting line (98 wRC+) already represents a down year, and any team to acquire him would know Gurriel will either opt into the remaining $18MM he’s guaranteed beyond the current season or go on a second-half tear and opt out. It’s not an appealing structure, and the Diamondbacks would probably need to eat a significant portion of the remaining money he’s owed to facilitate a trade.
Thomas and McCarthy are both controllable lefty-swinging outfielders, but neither is having a good season at the plate. Thomas, once touted as one of the top outfield prospects in baseball, has yet to hit in parts of four major league seasons. He’s an above-average runner and strong defensive center fielder, but this year’s .245/.295/.366 batting line (84 wRC+) is actually the best of the 25-year-old’s young career. He’s a lifetime .230/.276/.360 hitter in just under 1200 big league plate appearances.
McCarthy, on the other hand, has had plenty of big league success at the plate — just not in 2025. He hit .283/.342/.427 in 99 games back in 2022 (116 wRC+) and slashed .285/.349/.400 (110 wRC+) as recently as last season. He had a down year in 2023, however, and the 27-year-old has struggled to a career-worst .144/.228/.244 line (33 wRC+) in 102 trips to the plate this season.
That’s a relatively small sample, of course, and McCarthy has had some demonstrably poor luck. He’s hitting just .151 on balls in play — less than half the .328 career mark he carried into the season and some 130 points lower than the league average. McCarthy isn’t hitting the ball hard at all (83.9 mph average exit velocity, 23.7% hard-hit rate), but he also had poor batted-ball metrics even in his more productive 2022 and 2024 seasons. His 15.7% strikeout rate remains excellent, and McCarthy has walked at a solid 8.8% rate.
The D-backs optioned McCarthy to Triple-A after a rough three-week start and only recalled him back in late June. He batted .314/.401/.440 in 237 plate appearances with the Diamondbacks’ top affiliate in Reno and has put together an improved (albeit still diminished) .222/.300/.400 slash in his past 51 major league plate appearances.
Both Thomas and McCarthy are controllable for an additional three seasons. Both are eligible for arbitration for the first time this offseason. The Diamondbacks burned McCarthy’s final option year when they sent him down to Triple-A back in April. He’ll be out of minor league options next year. Thomas also entered 2025 with one option year remaining, but his is still intact, as he hasn’t been sent down at any point this season.
Diamondbacks Activate Corbin Carroll From 10-Day IL
Corbin Carroll is returning to the Diamondbacks’ lineup, as the club announced that the outfielder has been reinstated from the 10-day injured list. Utilityman Tim Tawa was optioned to Triple-A in the corresponding move.
Carroll last played on June 18, when he was hit in the left wrist by a pitch from Blue Jays southpaw Justin Bruihl. The result was a chip fracture and a trip to the IL that officially began on June 21, though thankfully, it appears as though Carroll dodged the bullet of a more serious injury. Carroll felt good enough to play in an Arizona Complex League game on Thursday and he took part in a live batting practice session yesterday.
Before he was sidelined, Carroll was enjoying a huge season, and a return to the form he showed in winning NL Rookie of the Year honors in 2023. The 149 wRC+ Carroll has posted through 323 plate appearances this season is indeed even higher than his 132 wRC+ in 2023, and a big step up from his relatively disappointing 107 wRC+ last year. Carroll is hitting .255/.341/.573 with 20 homers and a league-best nine triples this season, also contributing strong baserunning and (in the view of the Outs Above Average metric) plus defensive in right field.
Getting Carroll back so quickly is a huge boost to the Diamondbacks, who remain on the outskirts of the playoff race with a 43-45 record. Arizona is 4.5 games back of the final NL wild card spot with three other teams sitting between the D’Backs and the Padres, who hold that last wild card berth. The Snakes will have to make up some serious ground in July to more properly get themselves into the hunt, and to potentially avoid a significant selloff at the deadline.
Corbin Carroll Placed On IL With Wrist Fracture
June 24: The Diamondbacks officially placed Carroll on the IL, retroactive to June 21st, and recalled McCarthy today.
June 23: Corbin Carroll has been diagnosed with a “chip fracture” in his left wrist, manager Torey Lovullo told D-Backs’ postgame host Todd Walsh (h/t to Jody Jackson). It’s unclear how long he’ll be out of action or whether there’s any consideration of surgery. Nick Piecoro of The Arizona Republic had reported shortly before Lovullo’s announcement that the D-Backs would place Carroll on the injured list tomorrow. According to Piecoro, Jake McCarthy will be recalled from Triple-A Reno to take his spot on the roster.
It’s the latest hit to an Arizona team that has been battered by injuries. In this month alone, they’ve lost Corbin Burnes and top relievers A.J. Puk and Justin Martinez to season-ending elbow surgeries. Starting catcher Gabriel Moreno went down with a broken index finger last week. They’ll now be without one of their top two hitters for what seems likely to be at least a few weeks.
Carroll was injured during last Wednesday’s loss to the Blue Jays. Toronto reliever Justin Bruihl hit him on the left wrist with a 91 MPH sinker. The D-Backs lifted him for a defensive replacement in the following half-inning. Carroll hasn’t played since and wasn’t recovering as well as hoped. The Snakes sent him for an MRI that revealed the bone break. It’s unfortunately similar to the situation that played out with Moreno, who initially continued to play after a first round of x-rays didn’t catch the hairline fracture in his finger.
The 24-year-old Carroll has had a fantastic season, hitting .255/.341/.573 with 20 homers in 72 games. He got out to a blistering start, cooled a bit in May, and had rebounded to reel off nine extra-base hits in 13 games this month. Carroll has been a fixture in the top two spots in Lovullo’s batting order all season. They’ve bumped Geraldo Perdomo to the leadoff spot, at least against right-handed pitching, in his absence. Randal Grichuk has drawn into the lineup as the right fielder.
Grichuk is a solid role player but obviously isn’t going to come close to replacing Carroll’s production. If there’s a silver lining, it’s that the Diamondbacks still have a strong nucleus. A lineup including Ketel Marte, Eugenio Suárez, Josh Naylor, Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and Perdomo should remain capable of scoring runs. They need an elite offense to compensate for the struggles of the injury-riddled pitching staff, though, and that’s much more difficult without Carroll at the top.
Arizona bludgeoned the White Sox for a 10-0 victory tonight. That brought them to 40-38 on the season. They’re in fourth place in the NL West but are just 2.5 games out of the final Wild Card spot. Few teams have more at stake over the next five weeks as they hope to remain in position to add at the deadline.
NL West Notes: Carroll, Glasnow, Garcia, Freeland, Black
Corbin Carroll has missed the Diamondbacks‘ last four games due to a sore left hand, after the outfielder was hit by a pitch in Wednesday’s 8-1 loss to the Blue Jays. X-rays were negative and manager Torey Lovullo indicated today that Carroll’s hand was improving to some extent, but the skipper told MLB.com’s Steve Gilbert and other media that Carroll would undergo an MRI as an extra precaution. “Just because it’s not progressing as quickly as we wanted it to, and because of what we’ve just gone through with [Gabriel Moreno] and several of the injuries that we’ve been taking on, we want to definitely get a baseline,” Lovullo said.
In Moreno’s case, what apparently seemed like a minor hand injury ended up leading to a much longer expected absence, as a second MRI revealed a hairline fracture in the catcher’s right index figure. Such an outcome for Carroll would be devastating, as the young star has bounced back from a fairly ordinary 2024 campaign to hit .255/.341/.573 with 20 home runs in his first 323 plate appearances of 2025. Only 12 players in baseball have a higher wRC+ than Carroll’s 148, so naturally even losing him for a few days has been a hit to Arizona’s lineup. Losing Carroll to a more serious hand issue might well change the trajectory of the Diamondbacks’ season, as it would make it even harder for the Snakes to make up ground in both the crowded NL West or in the NL wild card picture.
More from around the NL West…
- Tyler Glasnow and Luis Garcia each began minor league rehab assignments today, with Glasnow tossing two innings for the Dodgers‘ Triple-A Oklahoma City and Garcia throwing an inning with the Dodgers’ A-ball affiliate in Rancho Cucamonga. Glasnow has been on the injured list (first the 15-day and then the 60-day) since late April due to shoulder inflammation, and is expected to make at least three rehab outings before a potential return to the Los Angeles rotation. Garcia has been out since late May due to an adductor strain and probably won’t need as much of a build-up to return to his bullpen role, so a return before the end of June seems possible.
- Kyle Freeland is hoping to return from the 15-day IL when first eligible on Friday, the Rockies left-hander told MLB.com’s Thomas Harding and other reporters. Lower back stiffness led to Freeland’s IL placement, but he said “everything felt great” after a 50-pitch bullpen session today. The plan is for a shorter bullpen session on Tuesday as the final step in an abbreviated recovery process, and the extended 50-pitch outing today was meant to get Freeland into something of a simulated game environment without the need for any rehab starts.
- Sticking with the Rockies, another quick return of a more unusual fashion may be occurring if Bud Black rejoins the organization. Fired as Colorado’s manager on May 11, “Black is a strong candidate to rejoin the Rockies as a pitching director or special assistant,” USA Today’s Bob Nightengale writes. While some managers are occasionally re-assigned to a new role within an organization in lieu of being altogether axed, such shuffling usually happens at the time of a managerial change, not a little over a month afterwards. Black managed the Rockies to a 544-690 record over eight-plus seasons, as playoff appearances in 2017-18 gave way to six straight losing seasons, plus Colorado’s current 18-60 record under Black and interim manager Warren Schaeffer.
Diamondbacks’ Outfielders Drawing Trade Interest
The Diamondbacks are no stranger to dealing from their perennial outfield depth, and GM Mike Hazen tells Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic that his stock of center fielders is again drawing interest. Hazen wouldn’t rule out a trade eventually coming together. It doesn’t sound as though Arizona is actively shopping any of its outfield options but rather listening to fairly robust interest, given the lack of center field options in free agency and elsewhere on the trade market. Diamondbacks fans, in particular, will want to check out Piecoro’s piece for a full slate of quotes and insight from Hazen.
The Snakes have Corbin Carroll, Alek Thomas and Jake McCarthy lined up as their likely outfield heading into the 2025 season, with Lourdes Gurriel Jr. mixing into left field as well. There’ll likely be some rotation of that bunch through the outfield and DH spots throughout the season. (Gurriel, it should be noted, is not a center fielder and is not seemingly among the players most heavily inquired about at this time.)
Of the D-backs’ trio of center field-capable outfielders, only Thomas and McCarthy stand as feasible trade candidates. Carroll, the 2023 NL Rookie of the Year, had a slow start in 2024 but bounced back to form as the season went on, slashing .256/.348/.522 (136 wRC+) over his final 425 plate appearances. He signed an eight-year, $111MM extension after a brief but excellent 32-game cup of coffee late in the 2022 season. He’s a cornerstone player in Arizona. Other clubs have probably inquired all the same, but Carroll is staying put.
Thomas and McCarthy, however, are at least a bit more plausible as trade candidates. The former ranked as one of the game’s top prospects for years but has yet to solidify himself as a viable everyday player in the majors. He’s a plus defender and runner when healthy but has mustered only a .226/.271/.359 batting line in 916 trips to the plate in the majors.
Thomas, 24, doesn’t strike out at an alarming clip (19.3%) but also ranks third among 251 big league hitters (min. 900 plate appearances) with a 57.2% ground-ball rate dating back to 2022. That penchant for grounders has undercut what scouting reports tabbed as above-average raw power. Thomas did pop 18 homers between Double-A and Triple-A a couple seasons back, but he has only 20 homers in his 916 big league plate appearances. Without elevating the ball more regularly, he’s unlikely to hit for much power in the majors. That said, he did make plenty of hard contact this past season (91.6 mph average exit velocity, 48.6% hard-hit rate). Even if much of that happens on the ground, a player with Thomas’ speed should see a far better average on balls in play than both the .200 he posted in 2024 and the .260 he’s notched in his career. There’s plenty to like about Thomas, and there are surely teams in need of a center fielder who are hoping they can buy low.
McCarthy, 27, is another solid defender — perhaps not quite to the extent of a healthy Thomas — who turned in a sharp .285/.349/.400 batting line in 2024. He smacked eight homers, swiped 25 bags (in 31 tries) and showed very strong contact skills (15.8% strikeout rate). He doesn’t have much power but also doesn’t possess glaring platoon splits. McCarthy doesn’t walk as much as one would prefer from a prototypical leadoff hitter (6.3% in 2024, 7.1% career), but he makes enough contact and runs well enough to profile as a table-setter who can handle all three outfield spots.
Both Thomas and McCarthy have one minor league option remaining and are controllable for another four seasons, which only adds to their appeal for win-now and rebuilding clubs alike. The Royals, Phillies, Pirates, Reds, Mets and Yankees are just some of the teams that could be in the market for outfield help this winter (though some of those obviously depend on the outcome of more pressing free agent pursuits).
As notably, Hazen indicated that any trades from his big league roster would be made with an eye toward improving another area of the MLB squad. The D-backs could lose Christian Walker to free agency, for instance, leaving a potential void at first base. Hazen has already publicly indicated that he hopes to add another high-leverage reliever/closer, though Piecoro specifically calls out the fact that the D-backs aren’t likely to move multiple years of a controllable outfielder in a straight-up swap for a reliever.
Fans may speculate on the potential to effectively purchase someone like Thomas or McCarthy by taking on some or even all of the remaining $22.5MM on Jordan Montgomery‘s contract. That seems overwhelmingly unlikely. Four years of either Thomas or McCarthy would surely be valued at more than the remaining $22.5MM on that contract, and even Montgomery himself would probably still command several million dollars on a bounceback deal in free agency. Taking on his contract probably amounts to somewhere in the vicinity of $15MM in underwater money, and that sum isn’t nearly enough to persuade a team to part with a controllable big league outfielder.
Julio Rodríguez Tops 2023 Pre-Arb Bonus Pool
Mariners center fielder Julio Rodríguez will receive $1,865,349 from the $50MM bonus pool for pre-arbitration players, the highest of the 2023 recipients, per a report from Ronald Blum of the Associated Press. The AP later released a full list of bonus recipients.
A notable new element of the current collective bargaining agreement is that $50MM is to be taken from central revenues annually and distributed to players that have not yet qualified for arbitration. Certain portions of the money are to be based on awards voting:
- Rookie of the Year: $750K for first place, $500K for second place
- MVP and Cy Young: $2.5MM for first place, $1.75MM for second place, $1.5MM for third place, $1MM for fourth or fifth place
- All-MLB: $1MM for being named “First Team,” $500K for being named “Second Team”
As Blum highlights today, a player is eligible to receive the bonus for one of those achievements per year, earning only the highest amount. Rodríguez finished fourth in American League MVP voting, meaning he got $1MM for that, which accounted for the majority of his payout. After the bonuses, the remainder of the pool is divided on a percentage basis among the top 100 players based on the joint MLB/MLBPA-created version of WAR.
Players are still eligible even if they have signed extensions, as long as they would have been pre-arb without signing such a deal. Rodríguez and the Mariners signed a convoluted extension towards the end of his rookie season in 2022 but he’s only at two years of service time now. Since he would have been pre-arb without that extension, he was able to top this year’s pool.
The following 10 players got more than $1MM:
- Rodríguez: $1,865,349
- Corbin Carroll: $1,812,337
- Adley Rutschman: $1,798,439
- Spencer Strider: $1,692,833
- Justin Steele: $1,673,331
- Kyle Bradish: $1,666,786
- Félix Bautista: $1,467,094
- Gunnar Henderson: $1,428,001
- Jonah Heim: $1,060,306
- Tanner Bibee: $1,016,931
Last year, Dylan Cease got the biggest slice of the 2022 pie, taking home $2,457,426.
Corbin Carroll Wins National League Rookie Of The Year Award
Diamondbacks outfielder Corbin Carroll has won the National League Rookie of the Year award, the Baseball Writers Association of America announced. Mets right-hander Kodai Senga came in second while Dodgers outfielder James Outman placed third.
Carroll was selected to Arizona’s roster in late August of last year, allowing him to get a taste of the majors but without exhausting his rookie status. He fared extremely well in that audition, hitting .260/.330/.500 in his first 115 plate appearances for a wRC+ of 131, indicating he was 31% better than the league average hitter in that time. The D’Backs felt confident enough in Carroll based on that showing, and his work as a minor leaguer, to give him an eight-year extension with a guarantee of $111MM.
They were hoping he would be an integral part of the club and help them make the postseason for the first time since 2017. He went on to have an incredible showing in his first full season in the majors, hitting 25 home runs and stealing 54 bases. His .285/.362/.506 line led to a 131 wRC+ and he also got strong grades for his outfield defense. He produced 6.0 wins above replacement in the eyes of FanGraphs while Baseball Reference had him at 5.4. The club did indeed break their postseason drought, snagging a Wild Card spot and eventually going all the way to the World Series.
While the award is surely thrilling for Carroll and the Snakes on its own, there are other implications of Carroll taking the trophy. The new collective bargaining agreement contains measures designed to combat service time manipulation through the prospect promotion incentive, or PPI. Top-two Rookie of the Year finishers who were Top 100 prospects on at least two preseason lists at Baseball America, ESPN and MLB Pipeline are automatically credited with a full service year. That won’t apply to Carroll, who was up all year and earned a full service year regardless, though he was the #2 prospect on all three of those lists. Gunnar Henderson, who got the AL trophy today, was #1.
But players with PPI status can also earn extra draft picks for their clubs if they have less than 60 days of service time to start the season and earn a full service year the traditional way, as Carroll did, while also appearing on those preseason prospect lists. Players in that camp who finish in the top two in Rookie of the Year voting or top three in Cy Young or Most Valuable Player voting during their pre-arbitration seasons earn a bonus pick after the first round for their club. That means the Diamondbacks, who are already loaded with young talent, will get a valuable extra pick in next year’s draft.
Senga also had a strong season, his first after coming over from Japan. He made 29 starts for the Mets with a 2.98 earned run average, 29.1% strikeout rate, 11.1% walk rate and 44.7% ground ball rate. Players considered by MLB to be foreign professionals, as Senga is, aren’t eligible to earn PPI picks for their clubs. Outman also had a solid campaign, hitting 23 home runs and stealing 16 bases. He struck out in 31.9% of his plate appearances but offset that somewhat by walking at a 12% clip. His .248/.353/.437 batting line led to a wRC+ of 118 and he also graded out well in the field. He wasn’t considered a top 100 prospect coming into the year and wouldn’t have qualified for a PPI pick even if he surpassed Senga for second place.
The voting was unanimous, per the vote tally at BBWAA, with Carroll getting all 30 first-place votes. Senga got 22 second-place votes and Outman got five. Other players getting votes were Nolan Jones of the Rockies, Eury Pérez of the Marlins, Patrick Bailey of the Giants and three Reds: Matt McLain, Spencer Steer and Elly De La Cruz.
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.