D-Backs Sign Corbin Carroll to 8-Year Deal
The Arizona Diamondbacks signed outfield prospect Corbin Carroll to an eight-year, $111 million contract Saturday, according to Steve Gilbert of MLB.com. Arizona is locking up the No. 2 prospect in baseball.
Carroll, 22, is just bursting onto the scene as a big-league player. He is expected to have his first full season in MLB this upcoming season. The Diamondbacks drafted Carroll with the 16th pick of the 2019 MLB Draft.
This is a massive contract for a player who has played 32 games in the majors. He is very much being paid based on what he could be, not what he has done yet.
Carroll has shown massive signs of being a superstar player. In a limited sample size, the outfielder had a .830 OPS and 133 OPS+, which are MVP numbers if they translate to a full season.
His bat is excellent, and he can flash the leather in center field, but sprint speed is probably Caroll’s biggest strength. He ranked in the 100th percentile in this category last season, meaning he is among the fastest players in the league, per Baseball Savant.
Pre-Arbitration Extension Trend Continues
Much like the Washington Nationals with Keibert Ruiz yesterday, the Diamondbacks and Carroll are locking themselves in long before the two sides can face arbitration.
Also like Ruiz’s, the contract for Carroll includes an option at the end. This ninth-year option could boost the value to $134 million, per The Athletic.
Caroll now has the largest guaranteed money for a player with fewer than 100 days of service time. That title belonged to Michael Harris II before last season.
MLB teams have made it clear: they want to avoid arbitration with young stars if possible. If those young stars are worth it, the team wants to lock the player up for a long time. This trend makes sense, why would you want your best players going to court with the team to argue pennies on the dollar, when you can skip the conversation entirely?
The bottom line is no one has given a contract like this to someone with as little experience as Corbin Caroll. For the Diamondbacks, this move is a gamble. They better hope it pays off.
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