Corbin Carroll's Minor Tweaks Have Yielded a Big Payoff Thus Far

Corbin Carroll made a slight change at the plate before Spring Training, and the results are certainly paying off so far. He's homered in three straight starts, including a grand slam and a two-run homer. It's good to see positive results with powerful exit velocities off a new stance at the plate.

Through these last three games, Carroll has three homers, all above 104 mph exit velocity, including one at 110.1 mph. Granted, this is Spring Training, and he's not facing MLB caliber pitching all the time, but it's still an impressive display of power.

These three homers at Spring Training thus far have been the first three of his career at Spring Training and show that he has plenty of power.

According to Carroll, who spoke to Nick Piecoro, he hit a ball in practice with an exit velocity of 116 mph, a laser off the bat.

Over four games, he has six hits in 12 plate appearances, including three hits on Friday afternoon in which he collected three RBI. He's walked twice, struck out twice, and stolen two bases including home plate once.

Manager Torey Lovullo discussed Carroll's home run Friday and how he's done of late below.

"I love the Corbin Carroll home run and it just continues to be a really really short compact swing to the baseball and isn't missing the pitch that I think he's looking for."

Over the off-season, Carroll began moving his bat from being flat before he swung to being nearly vertical at the plate. He combined that with raising his hands higher and further away from his body than before. It's reminiscent of how Shohei Ohtani used to hit back with the Angels years ago.

I’m the last person who wants to make this comparison, but Corbin Carroll’s new hitting position looks a little familiar.

Stance is a bit more closed, but Carroll’s bat is noticeably higher and further in front of his head. pic.twitter.com/jaWsVKjn7L
— Alex D’Agostino (@AlexDagAZ) February 25, 2025

Carroll spoke about how he changed his positioning of his hands below in full detail.

"I actually kind of want to think about my hands being a little bit lower and then getting higher so that when I make my forward move, my hands aren't necessarily coming with my body. I want them to kind of stay up a little bit longer. We also talked through some of the sequencing of that.

"I think my last at-bat today is a great example of what I think having those hands stay up does for me. It's like I don't have the fast-forward at the top. I was able to just take a good, clean swing at it. Don't have to work back up to it. I was happy with that."

One aspect that this new positioning of his bat and hands at the plate is that he showcased he could handle a 96 mph fastball up and on the inner third of the plate in Friday's game. He hit it for a high chopper up the middle to drive in a run. He was able to get on top of the ball from his new positioning.

When asked how things are feeling, Carroll said "Just trying to dial in. trying to dial everything in. But, yeah, I'd say I'm happy with how things are feeling so far."

Carroll is a major part of the Diamondbacks' team and offense, especially if they are to reach their goals this year. If he has figured out a way to enhance his swing and supercharge his offense this year, then that will go a long way towards helping the team achieve their goals and possibly see Carroll obtain some notable accolades too.