Diamondbacks outfielder Corbin Carroll has turned heads as a rookie, slashing .286/.363/.511 with 25 home runs and 73 RBIs for a playoff contender. He was named to the National League All-Star team in July, and his nine triples are tied for the major league lead.
To ESPN analyst and former MLB pitcher David Cone, however, Carroll’s impact on Arizona goes beyond the numbers—and makes him the peer of one of baseball’s most successful young players.
“[Corbin Carroll] reminds me of Derek Jeter in 1996,” Cone said. “By this time of year, he was already a leader in that clubhouse.”
Carroll and the Diamondbacks are in New York for a three-game series against the Yankees starting Friday evening.
Former Yankee David Cone had some high praise for Corbin Carroll ahead of the @Dbacks trip to the Bronx this weekend. pic.twitter.com/DGM64ViU1E
— MLB (@MLB) September 22, 2023
Jeter was named the American League’s Rookie of the Year in 1996, a year in which he hit .314 and drove in 78 runs for the Bronx Bombers at age 22. With Cone coming back late in the season after an arm aneurysm, New York defeated the Braves in six games to win the World Series.
Arizona is currently holding down the NL’s second wild-card spot at 81-72, a game and a half clear of the third-place Cubs.
