Carroll cranks big 3-run HR in multihit night

Few things match the excitement of a walk-off home run. But a three-run blast to all but seal your team’s win in the eighth? That’s pretty good too.

And that’s exactly what Corbin Carroll did with Double-A Amarillo in its 8-4 win over Midland on Saturday night. The D-backs’ top prospect had already logged two hits and swiped two bags, but his 13th dinger of the season was the icing on the cake.

Carroll laced two singles in addition to the long ball and came around to score each time he was on base. He was a key part of the Amarillo offense in a back-and-forth contest, but his biggest moments came in the seventh and eighth innings.

Leading off the seventh with the game tied at 4, MLB’s No. 13 prospect hammered the sixth pitch of his at-bat into center field. Carroll then put his 70-grade speed to the test, swiping both second and third base to put the go-ahead run 90 feet away. With two outs, he scored on a throwing error to give the Sod Poodles a 5-4 lead.

Though the five runs would have been enough, Carroll made sure to give Amarillo a good cushion. A single and a fielding error put two on in the eighth, and the lefty slugger turned on a 1-1 pitch and sent it deep into the night over the fence in left-center to give his team an 8-4 lead, and ultimately, the victory.

The 16th overall pick of the 2019 Draft, Carroll has hit at every level, and Double-A is certainly no exception. In his first taste of the circuit in 2022, he’s batting .300 with 30 walks, 30 RBIs and an OPS of 1.044 (the fifth-highest OPS in the Texas League). After hitting four home runs total in his first two seasons, he’s exploded for 13 long balls in 43 games this season. He’s also one steal shy of tying his career-high mark of 18 he set in his debut year of 2019.