Carroll, Gallen make midnight run to SportsCenter, talk D-backs' rise
When the D-backs closed out a 5-1 victory and a series win over the Brewers in Milwaukee on Wednesday afternoon, they improved to 45-30 and maintained their 2 1/2-game lead in the National League West.
As they were preparing to leave American Family Field for the next leg of their road trip -- a quick visit to the nation’s capital to play a makeup game against the Nationals before flying back across the country to San Francisco -- right-hander Zac Gallen and center fielder Corbin Carroll were approached by Casey Wilcox, the club’s vice president of communications.
“[He] came up and was like, ‘Hey, they want you and Corbin to go into the studio with SVP,” Gallen said. “And I thought he meant like, [the next] morning, like an early wakeup call. And he’s like, ‘No, they want to do it tonight.’”
Longtime ESPN SportsCenter anchor Scott Van Pelt has a studio in Washington, D.C., from where he broadcasts the midnight (Eastern Time) edition of the show. He wanted the D-backs duo on to talk about Arizona’s surprising rise to the top of the NL West, ahead of projected powerhouses like the Dodgers and Padres.
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Gallen and Carroll got off the plane in D.C., went to the team’s hotel, dropped off their bags and headed straight for the ESPN studio.
“It was a little bit of a weird request, a little late at night,” Carroll said. “But I was like, I’m probably not gonna sleep. So let’s do it.”
During the seven-minute segment, Van Pelt discussed the D-backs’ rise from 110 losses in 2021, to a chance to be in first place at the All-Star break in ’23. He asked Gallen and Carroll what made this turnaround so stark and so fast with a young and exciting club. He also asked them whether this run is sustainable.
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But he began with a thank you.
“I did not have this on the bingo card when I woke up,” Van Pelt said. “But Zac and Corbin are here with us in studio. Gentlemen, we appreciate you taking the time. We know you’ve got an early day game with the Nats.”
Carroll expressed perhaps the biggest reasons why it was important to him and Gallen to make this appearance and talk about what’s happening in Phoenix.
“That's one of the things that I think is cool about our position as players,” Carroll said. “We get to try and grow this brand of D-backs baseball and hopefully have a new wave of kids grow up in Arizona as D-backs fans. I think that's pretty powerful, and I think taking opportunities to do stuff like that and showcase our team on a national stage is important.”
The way things are going for the surging D-backs, Carroll and Gallen are hoping it won’t be long before they visit with Van Pelt at his D.C. studio again.
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After all, the building is just a couple of blocks from the White House. And that’s where teams go to be honored by the president after winning the World Series.
“Probably if you asked us six weeks ago, we’d probably be like, ‘Well, we’re good, but is this sustainable?’” Gallen said. “I think now, almost at this halfway point, I think there’s definitely a different confidence in the clubhouse among the guys.
“And when we play, we’re starting to set the expectations for ourselves a little bit higher, which is what you see with teams that are really good, really sustainable.”