Diamondbacks star rookie Corbin Carroll shines in first career postseason

The Arizona Diamondbacks have a gem of a young stud in OF Corbin Carroll. After an excellent season all but locked up the NL Rookie of the Year award, Carroll brought his hot streak into the playoffs with him.

the 5-foot-10, 165-pound 23-year old posted a .285/.362/.506 slash line with an .868 OPS in the regular season. He played in 155 games, collecting 40 extra-base hits, and setting history as the first rookie to hit 25 home runs and steal 50 bases in the same season.

Carroll had not been without slumps in the regular season, and the greatest question yet loomed large: would he be able to perform under the lights of October baseball?

He answered the question right away. In game one of the Wild Card, the D-backs were staring down a 3-0 deficit in the third inning, facing Brewers ace Corbin Burnes. With one out, and Geraldo Perdomo at first base, Corbin saw a changeup low in the zone and let it fly an astounding 443 feet, bringing the game to within one run and sparking the D-backs offense en route to a 5-3 comeback victory in game one.

Carroll would collect multi-hit games in his first three career postseason games and went on to hit a 110 mph rocket of a solo home run off Dodgers RHP Emmet Sheehan, to extend the lead to 7-0. In Carroll's first two career playoff series, he slashed an incredible .412/.565/.824, with a monstrous 1.389 OPS.

Then, the bat started to go cold. To be fair, the D-backs went cold as a unit in the first two games of the NLCS, and Carroll was no exception. The rookie was hitless in three straight games, and was a sub-optimal 3-23 at the plate for the first six games of the biggest series of the season so far.

Concerning? Maybe, but facing a do-or-die opportunity in the final game of the NLCS, the young star's exploded when the team absolutely needed him the most.

Corbin was 3-4 at the plate, with two stolen bases and two RBI. In a game that ended with a final score of 4-2, Corbin Carroll accounted for all four Diamondbacks runs, knocking in two, and scoring the other two. If there was ever a time to come alive, it was game seven, and the 23-year-old sensation did just that. With the fate of the team on his back, he helped them secure the team's second franchise pennant and punch their ticket to the fall classic.

Carroll finished the postseason with a slash line of .273/.364/.409, a near-perfect microcosm of an impressive 2023 campaign. He accounted for 21 runs, knocking in 11 RBI and scoring 10, with four stolen bases and five multi-hit games. An unforgettable experience to cap off his rookie season.

Carroll is one of many young presences on the D-backs squad, and with players like himself, Gabriel Moreno, Alek Thomas and Brandon Pfaadt making huge jumps in the 2023 season, Arizona has a bright future ahead of them.