Mariners get close look at Seattle’s Corbin Carroll during series in Arizona
PHOENIX — After watching him set up the Diamondbacks to win the game without even getting a hit, the Mariners were more than happy to keep Corbin Carroll off the bases in Sunday’s 4-0 victory.
In Saturday’s 4-3 loss, Carroll, a Seattle native, worked a leadoff walk from Andres Munoz, would’ve stole second with ease had the umpires not called a balk on Munoz, stole third without even drawing a throw and scored what would be the winning run on a single up the middle.
In 100 games this season, Carroll has a .285/.365/.547 slash line with 21 doubles, 21 homers, 57 RBI and 32 stolen bases.
The Mariners haven’t been great at throwing out base stealers this season, hurt by a pitching staff that isn’t great at controlling the running game with pickoff throws and quicker moves to home on pitches.
With the new rules limiting the number of times pitchers can throw over to first base, and larger bases, it’s even more difficult to stop good base stealers or have a chance against an elite base runner like Carroll.
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“I don’t know if we can, quite frankly,” manager Scott Servais said. “That’s why he is the player he is. He has that special tool. It’s the same with Julio (Rodriguez). I feel whoever is catching and the combination with the pitcher with Julio out there, I still feel like he’s still going to steal the base because everything has to be perfect.”
Carroll is one of the fastest players in MLB, but it’s also his aggressive nature and his ability to get good jumps on stolen bases that makes him elite.
“With a guy like Carroll, your time (to home) has to be 1.2 or 1.1 (seconds) preferable,” Servais said. “You have to get a good pitch to throw on, your catcher has to put it right on the bag, everything has to be right to get him. That’s what makes him a special player when you have that type of explosive tool.”
In the past, there were ways to at least slow down Carroll on the bases. But they were removed with the rule changes.
“Back in the day, you throw over six or seven times, tire him out, get him frustrated,” Servais said. “You’d just keep doing it and doing it and doing it. That entire amount. Let’s get it frustrating. Just keep doing it. Doing it doing it. Yeah. We can’t do that anymore. You’ve really got to make him hit his way on. He’s having a really good year offensively as well, but the walks kill you.”
Carroll went 0 for 4 on Sunday against the team he grew up cheering for as a kid. In the three-game series, he got one hit, drew two walks, scored a run and stole two bases.
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The Mariners loved Carroll as a draft prospect. But with the 20th pick that season, they knew he would be off the board by the time they got to pick. Arizona took Carroll with the 16th overall pick. The Mariners took George Kirby at No. 20.
Servais can remember talking with Carroll after a workout at T-Mobile Park when he was in high school.
“I will never forget it,” Servais said. “He’s big now compared to where he was in high school. So my first look was like, ‘OK, this guy is a dude.’ But when you first meet somebody it’s like, do they pass the eye test? Because he was so small, you’re just thinking, Oh, he’s going to be a speed player and he certainly can impact the game that way, but he’s done way more than that with the bat. He impacts the game in a number of different ways. He’s a great young player and I’m happy he’s not in our division.”
Kelenic drops by
Jarred Kelenic (fractured left foot) was in the visiting clubhouse over the weekend at Chase Field, checking in with teammates and the Mariners training staff, including director of high performance Rob Scheidegger.
Kelenic, who is still in a walking boot, is doing his recovery and rehab in Arizona at the team’s facility in Peoria.
He wasn’t sure when he will be out of the walking boot, hoping another few weeks at the most. He was expected to be out at least 4-6 weeks with the injury that he suffered from kicking a water cooler.
Note
The Mariners went 6-1-1 in series in July. The one series loss was to the Tigers coming out of the All-Star break. Of the six series wins, five came against teams with winning records — Rays, Giants, Astros, Blue Jays, Twins and Diamondbacks. Only Arizona doesn’t currently hold a postseason spot.
Source: The Seattle Times
