Humble Jake McCarthy Ready to Compete for Playing Time

Jake McCarthy is almost assured a spot on the Arizona Diamondbacks Opening Day roster after his impressive 2024 season. However, it's not certain whether he will be in the lineup at center field come first pitch. Regardless, he will be an important part to this D-backs team in 2025.

When asked about the intense competition for playing time amidst the five talented outfielders this Spring Training and into the regular season, McCarthy spoke about how it makes him play at his best.

"When I got drafted seven years ago, I feel like I came into a really talented outfield group, especially left-handed hitters... The room's always been super competitive."

McCarthy noted the immense talent in the group produces the best work ethic and desire to produce at a high level to earn playing time.

"I just think that environment creates really good baseball teams. I think you could ask just about anyone in this room what they think about the team or the certain position group that they're in, and it's pretty deep.

"So, like I talked about it with the outfielders, I think that makes us all better. It makes the team better. I don't think anyone here is actively rooting against someone in their own position group. I think we all want everyone to be firing at their best.

"So when it comes down to September, October, and November, we're at our best. So, I think that's what creates a good team."

McCarthy says he's striving to improve all aspects of his game this year including his offense, defense, running on the bases, or his throws from the outfield.

A goal of his is to reach 30 stolen bases this year, last year he had 25 and has 74 over last three seasons. "Just get on first as much as I can, and then hopefully the stolen bases take care of themselves," McCarthy said.

McCarthy hit .285 with an OPS of .749 and an OPS+ of 109 with a 1.7 bWAR. The OPS, average, and WAR were career highs. So were his 56 RBI, seven triples, eight home runs (tied with 2022), and 31 walks. He got into 142 games, another career high.

However, he isn't looking back on 2024 as a reason to not get better. Instead, he's looking at what he did wrong and how he can have an even better season in 2025 instead of resting on his laurels.

McCarthy shared, "I think at the end of any year, you can go back and assess what I did really well, and here's what I didn't do so well, and I think if you can look at that objectively, you can find out a little more about yourself [and find] ways to improve and ways to maintain certain parts of your game.

"At the end of last year, obviously, it didn't feel great how it ended, but there's things that you could either take a note of mentally, write it down, like, hey, here's how I feel in this part of my game. Here's what I can do to make it better, and I think that's how you improve in this game."

One of the personality traits that McCarthy is most known for is his humility and how he's able to keep perspective over an entire 162-game season despite having major months or rough stretches. He's even-keeled and always stays in a stable mindset.

"I feel like I've been humbled a ton in this game. I just think, that when you try to control things that are out of your control, it just normally ends up blowing up in your face. Seriously, I think this game's so hard that you've got to take it day by day and take your wins and accept your losses," McCarthy said.

"Again, it's just so humbling. So I try not to get too ahead of myself when it comes to, like you said, like, oh, you play well for a month or a season or whatever. I just don't think you can take that stuff for granted.

"Being on a team with such a deep roster, it seems like you're always going to have to fight a bit for your playing time and your spot."

McCarthy, like the rest of the team, has a sense of unfinished business from last year after narrowly missing the playoffs. He's determined to get there this year.

"I almost feel like, wow, last year was a great year. We had the run that we went on through the middle towards the end of the season, and then it kind of feels weird the way it ended. So, obviously, we want to make sure last year wasn't a fluke, what happened during the season, but we want to finish what we started now," McCarthy said.

Related Content