Corbin

Carroll

Carroll was the extent of the offense in this one as his solo home run was the lone run scored in this game between both teams. He crushed it too at 107 mph off the bat and 410 over the wall in left-center field. For all the concerns with his early season power coming off hamate bone surgery this was his second home run and he already has a double and a triple too. He’s looking like one of the best bargains in fantasy baseball early on as that injury pushed his draft stock down ever so slightly.

Carroll laced a triple off Justin Verlander in the first inning, and one frame later the 25-year-old whalloped his first homer of the season, also off Verlander. The hamata bone injury doesn’t appear to be bothering Carroll to begin the year, and fantasy managers who were able to procure his services later because of the scare have to be thrilled. When at his best, there are very few outfielders better than Carroll.

While Lourdes Gurriel is sidelined, the 23-year-old will have a chance to see regular at-bats for the Diamondbacks — essentially battling Alek Thomas to see who sticks in the lineup upon Gurriel’s return. Here’s the full lineup that the Diamondbacks will use against Yoshinobu Yamamoto and the Dodgers on Friday evening in Los Angeles: Ketel Marte (2B), Corbin Carroll (RF), Geraldo Perdomo (SS), Gabriel Moreno (C), Pavin Smith (DH), Nolan Arenado (3B), Carlos Santana (1B), Alex Thomas (CF) and Jordan Lawlar (LF).

Carroll tried using an Axe bat initially in his return from a broken hamate, since he thought that might be more comfortable, but because he’s feeling fine, he’s already gone back to his usual model. He hit balls 106.6 and 105.5 mph today.

Carroll remains limited to DH as he works his way back from last month’s hamate surgery, but the expectation is that he’ll return to right field in a game setting at some point in the coming days. The 25-year-old fantasy superstar is still shaking off some rust after an extended layoff from game action, but he should be a full-go for the start of the regular season.

“Obviously it’s not going to feel perfect, but manageable and just trying to work through it as best I can,” Carroll told reporters following his first game action since undergoing hamate surgery on his wrist back in early February. He didn’t record a hit in this one, but he put a pair of hard-hit balls in play with exit velocities of 113.6 mph and 96.1 mph. The 25-year-old franchise cornerstone is expected to be a full-go by Opening Day and remains locked in as a first-round pick in fantasy drafts this spring.

Carroll has been sidelined since early February after undergoing hamate bone surgery, but he has been at the facility and rehabbing the entire time. He will now get into a spring training game multiple weeks before the start of the season, which means he should easily be in the lineup on Opening Day.

Carroll is making quick work of his recovery from surgery to repair a broken hamate bone. There will be questions about whether or not his power returns right away following the procedure, but at this point it looks like the dynamic 25-year-old outfielder should be in the Diamondbacks’ starting lineup on Opening Day.

Carroll has said he plans to play on Opening Day, which would certainly bode well for him. We assume the Diamondbacks will see how his hand feels after facing live pitching on Friday, and then make a decision on when he could get back into Cactus League games. We should still expect a bit of power regression for Carroll coming off the hamate surgery, but the rest of his profile should remain solid.

“That’s my gut feel,” Lovullo told reporters on Saturday. Carroll is recovering from a broken hamate bone in his wrist that he suffered earlier this month. He’s going to be racing against the clock to make it back for Arizona’s season opener in late March, but it’s not out of the question. The 25-year-old fantasy superstar remains a first-round selection in all drafts this spring.