Why Corbin Carroll is Batting 7th for the First Time in 2 Years

The last time star outfielder Corbin Carroll started lower than fifth in the Arizona Diamondbacks' lineup, it was 2024. At the time, Carroll was trying to climb out of the deepest slump of his career.

On Friday night, facing right-hander Gerrit Cole and the New York Yankees, Carroll is batting seventh in Arizona's order — the lowest he's fallen all year. It's the first time he's hit in the seven-hole since August 30 of 2024,

On Friday, ahead of Arizona's game one matchup with the Yankees, manager Torey Lovullo spoke about the decision to move Carroll down to that spot in the order.

Why Diamondbacks' Corbin Carroll is batting seventh

Sep 5, 2026; Houston, Texas, USA; Arizona Diamondbacks right fielder Corbin Carroll (7) on deck against the Houston Astros in the first inning at Daikin Park. Mandatory Credit: Thomas Shea-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

It's been a similar set of circumstances — though not quite as severe — to where Carroll's numbers sat in 2024. He was hitting .227/.314/.422 the last time he hit seventh, while putting forward his best month of that tough sophomore season to that point.

This year, Carroll has remained productive, but is certainly not at his best. He's posted a strong-enough .795 OPS on the year, but is hitting .174 this month after a .163 July and .234 August.

"Corbin's grinding right now," Lovullo said. "We all know it."

"He hit that walk-off home run the other day... so we know that there's been some really good moments there. But if we're going to build an inning with the top shelf guys there, one through four, I'm looking for a little bat to ball in certain situations to score some runs."

Lovullo called the change for Carroll "a chance to catch his breath down there."

"Take a little pressure off of him," the manager continued. "He wears it as hard as anybody. I've told him to just worry about being himself and not letting the team down, because that's what generally happens with a young player. Somebody that's used to carrying a workload, they feel like when they don't get the job done, that they are letting the group down. And that's not the case with Corbin."

Sep 15, 2026; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Arizona Diamondbacks outfielder Corbin Carroll with the Roberto Clemente award nominee trophy prior to the game against the Miami Marlins at Chase Field. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Carroll had also been dealing with a back issue — one that caused the 26-year-old to go in for imaging. The MRI came back clean enough, however, and he only missed a pair of games.

Lovullo said Carroll is "pretty healthy" now, although perhaps not as healthy as he might have been before the season began.

"I don't think he's 100%, but at this time of the year, I don't think anybody is," Lovullo said. "We have a lot of guys that are banged up. Some that are playing hurt and you just don't know it. Corbin got to the point where we had to make you guys aware because we took him out of a game.

"The difference between being hurt and injured, right? When you're injured, you can't do a thing about it. I think he was fighting that thought. And once we found out that he was going to be okay through the MRI, I think that helped him out quite a bit."

The fact is, the Diamondbacks need more production out of Carroll — and the rest of their lineup — if they want to crawl back into the playoff picture. Now sitting four games back of the final Wild Card berth, there's little time left for slumps to be worked out.

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