The Diamondbacks and outfielder Corbin Carroll are in settlement on an eight-year, $111MM contract extension, in accordance with Steve Gilbert of MLB.com (Twitter hyperlink). The deal has a membership choice for 2031 which might carry the overall worth to $134MM. Carroll is represented by CAA Sports activities.
Gilbert additionally provides that the offers has escalators between 2029-31, and Nick Piecoro of The Arizona Republic writes that the escalators may carry one other $20MM into the deal “relying largely on the place Carroll completed in award voting.” The extension will purchase out the rest of Carroll’s club-controlled years, in addition to at the least two of Carroll’s free agent years, relying on whether or not or not the choice is exercised. Since Carroll is simply 22 years outdated, he’ll nonetheless be capable to hit free company at age 31 even when the D’Backs to select up that choice yr.
It’s an aggressive transfer from Arizona to lock up the long run face of their franchise, as Carroll is now the centerpiece of what the Diamondbacks hope is a brand new wave of younger expertise to their huge league roster. The group has additionally made historical past with this deal, as that is the most important contract ever signed for a participant with fewer than 100 days of Main League service time (and no expertise in international leagues), comfortably eclipsing the $70MM Atlanta gave Michael Harris final yr.
Carroll, 22, debuted for the Diamondbacks final season and hit .260/.330/.500 with 4 residence runs over 115 plate appearances. He additionally supplied loads of worth within the area, incomes 5 Outs Above Common in his small quantity of labor within the outfield. Crucially, Carroll fell 15 plate appearances wanting reaching 130 final season, which suggests he’ll nonetheless be eligible for Rookie of the 12 months honors in 2023.
The sixteenth total decide, Carroll shortly made a reputation for himself as an thrilling younger prospect coming via the Diamondbacks’ system. He hit .299/.409/.487 in his first yr of professional ball as a 19-year-old in 2019, then missed the 2020 minor league season as a result of pandemic. A dislocated shoulder noticed him miss important time in 2021, however he made up for it in 2022, belting 24 residence runs and hitting .307/.425/.611 throughout three minor league ranges to earn his first name as much as the large leagues.
The Athletic’s Keith Regulation ranked Carroll as his prime total prospect within the sport lately, citing his “plus energy” and “superior plate self-discipline” whereas labeling him a “true heart fielder”. There’s no query Carroll is without doubt one of the sport’s brightest stars, and the kind of participant groups dream of constructing a roster round.
Carroll’s identify did come up in commerce chatter earlier this winter because the Diamondbacks appeared to ease a little bit of an outfield logjam, however it at all times appeared he was off-limits and the group finally wound up sending Daulton Varsho to Toronto for Gabriel Moreno and Lourdes Gurriel Jr.
Regulation ranked the Diamondbacks as having the fourth greatest farm system within the sport, and certainly the group is nicely setup to contend sooner or later with a bevy of younger expertise on the way in which. Carroll is the large identify there, however Moreno, Jordan Lawlar, Druw Jones and co will imply the group has loads of expertise arriving over the subsequent few seasons.
So far as the financials go, the D’Backs have positioned a giant guess on a participant with solely 32 MLB video games below his belt. Nevertheless, if Carroll comes anyplace near dwelling as much as the hype, the extension will turn into an excellent piece of enterprise from GM Mike Hazen. It’s unclear but how the contract might be distributed, however it comes with a $13.875MM AAV. Arizona has some huge cash coming off the books this yr, and with solely $32MM in assured payroll for 2025 (Carroll accounts for nearly half of that). Whereas the Diamondbacks have historically been a mid-range spender at greatest, they nonetheless have a great deal of payroll flexibility for the group to make exterior additions, or maybe to signal different extensions with members of their younger core.
