Carroll makes more history: 1st rookie to have 25-HR, 50-SB season

PHOENIX -- Can we just go ahead and give Corbin Carroll the National League Rookie of the Year Award already?

The D-backs outfielder continues to pile up impressive accomplishments. In Arizona’s 7-1 win over the Giants on Wednesday at Chase Field -- which gave the D-backs the season-series win over San Francisco -- he stole his 49th and 50th bases of the season and belted his 25th home run.

With those steals and the homer, Carroll became the first rookie in MLB history to compile 25 or more home runs and 50-plus stolen bases.

• Games remaining (9): at NYY (3), at CWS (3), vs. HOU (3)
• Standings update: The D-backs (81-72) hold the No. 2 Wild Card spot. They have a 1 1/2-game lead over the Cubs (79-73) and a two-game lead on the Marlins (79-74). Arizona is 2 1/2 games ahead of the Reds (79-75) and 4 1/2 games ahead of the Giants (76-76). The D-backs do not hold the tiebreaker over the Reds or Marlins. They hold the tiebreaker over the Cubs and Giants.

Carroll singled in his first three plate appearances Wednesday and homered in the seventh. He joined Cesar Cedeno as the only two players to hit 25 or more homers with 50 or more stolen bases in their age 22 or younger season.

Carroll entered Wednesday’s game with an fWAR of 5.3, which was tied for the fourth-highest fWAR by a rookie since 1993.

“It's fun, man,” D-backs veteran right-hander Merrill Kelly said of watching Carroll play. “I'm glad and I'm honored to be on the same team with him. [He] just causes absolute chaos. Not only in the batter's box, but if he gets on, you know something good is gonna happen.

“So for somebody who works as hard as he does, takes pride in his craft the way that he does, to see him start to rack up the accolades and really get people to notice -- not that they didn't already, but it's fun to see. It's a pleasure being on his team and kind of seeing him go to work every day.”

You’re going to have to get teammates to talk about Carroll and his individual accomplishments because the 23-year-old is only concerned with how his own play helps his team lock up a postseason berth for the first time since 2017.

“I'm proud of it,” Carroll said. “But at the same time, you know, we talked about it as a team, this is the time of the year we're not pulling for personal accomplishments. That's kind of out the window at this point. And all that matters is today and the win.”

The win was the fifth in a row for the D-backs, who completed a perfect homestand following a three-game sweep of the Cubs -- which vaulted them above Chicago for the second Wild Card spot -- and a two-game sweep of the Giants that all but ended San Francisco’s playoff hopes.

It was quite a turnaround from where things stood a week ago, when the D-backs limped home from New York having dropped the final three games of a four-game set with the Mets. Those losses had put them on the outside looking in at the postseason.

Now, the D-backs embark on a six-game road trip that could see them clinch a playoff berth. It starts with three games against the Yankees, followed by three against the White Sox.

While things are going well right now, it doesn’t seem like the D-backs have any intention of taking anything for granted.

“This is the position we played all year to put ourselves into,” Carroll said. “And now the fun part. This is the part where you kind of reap the rewards of putting in all that work throughout the season to get to this point. And now it's just kind of emptying the tank and [putting the] foot on the gas.”