Tuesday, October 28

Welcome to the D-backs Beat Newsletter! I’m Steve Gilbert and I’ve been writing about the D-backs since 1998. 

In the top of the fifth inning of the Diamondbacks' game against the Phillies on Sept. 19, Philadelphia's Bryce Harper lined a ball into the gap in right-center.  

In the dugout, Arizona first base/outfield coach Dave McKay immediately figured Harper was going to get two bases, especially given that he was running hard out of the box and took an aggressive turn at first base. 

But Harper had to hit the brakes and head back to first base and when McKay jogged out to first for the bottom half of the inning, Harper was waiting for him with a question. 

"Hey Mac," he said. "Where the hell did Corbin Carroll come from on that play?" 

McKay smiled to himself; it was another sign of how much of an improvement Carroll had made as a defender and how hard he worked on it. It's a big reason that he is a finalist for the Rawlings Gold Glove Award for NL right fielders. 

"Harper looked at me and he goes, 'I thought I had a double and as I'm rounding first I see the middle infielder stretching to get the ball and I had to stop quickly and get back to first,'" McKay remembered. "I told him, ‘You know that that's one guy you probably don't want to try and take the extra base off, because he's going to go hard after everything. He's not going to jog to it.’" 

Carroll has blazing speed on the bases, and whereas some players will jog in on balls when they know a runner won't be trying to take the extra base, Carroll will aggressively run toward every ball. 

"He'll go as hard as he can and get to it and come up and get it in," McKay said. "Because he realizes the value in working on your jumps at all times, rather than [only doing it] when there's that ball that's hit away from you, where you actually have to go hard to get it. He just works on it all the time." 

Each game, at home or on the road, McKay puts a sheet of paper on each of the outfielders’ chairs that shows them what their defensive metrics were in the previous game. How good was their first step in going for a ball? What was the catch probability? How much ground did they cover and how long did it take them to do it? 

For the competitive Carroll, it's a tangible way to measure his progress. 

"That sheet has been really helpful," Carroll said earlier this year. "It's a great tool to kind of hold us accountable to a certain standard." 

When last season started, McKay said Carroll's jumps were just so-so, but after realizing the importance of them, Carroll put in the time before games working on them and the improvement was obvious. 

"He puts in the time," McKay said. "That's the thing about Corbin: He always wants to get better at whatever it might be." 

Carroll faces stiff competition for the Gold Glove with the other finalists being Milwaukee's Sal Frelick, who won the award last year, and San Diego's Fernando Tatis Jr., who not only won the award in 2023 but also captured the Platinum Glove for the best defender at any position.

This trio represents the top three in the NL for Outs Above Average among right fielders in 2025. Carroll paced the group with +9, Tatis came in at +8 and Frelick finished at +7. The three also landed atop the league leaderboard for the position in Defensive Runs Saved (Tatis, +15; Frelick, +9; Carroll, +7, tied with the Dodgers’ Andy Pages for third).  

To determine the winners at the nine standard positions, the 30 MLB managers and up to six coaches from each team vote from a pool of players in their league, excluding players from their own team. These votes comprise 75% of the selection total, with the SABR Defensive Index counting for the other 25%. 

The winners will be unveiled on ESPN at 6:30 p.m. MST on Sunday, Nov. 2.  

The Diamondbacks have not officially announced their coaching staff for 2026, but the only change from last season appears to be at third base, where J.R. House -- formerly of the Reds -- will take over. 

House replaces Tim Bogar, who finished out the season as third-base coach after Shaun Larkin was taken out of the role on Aug. 20. Larkin remained on staff as the infield coach and was in the dugout during games, but was not allowed to be in uniform. That will likely continue in 2026. 

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