Corbin Carroll Back in D-backs Lineup After Shoulder Scare

The rookie sensation's MRI came back clean and he's cleared to play

When Corbin Carroll completed his back swing and winced, doubled over in pain, he thought his season was over. 

I took a swing, and I felt a shift in my shoulder, shocking, tingling sensation go down my arm and then my hand go numb. I was just holding it thinking it came out of the socket, pretty much thought that the season was over. 

I was pretty crushed walking off the field.........

Carroll struggled a bit to put into words everything that was going through his mind at the moment, thinking about his season, his career, his team, and the opportunity to go to Seattle as a starter in the All Star game.  

The medical staff examined him and  ruled out any actual dislocation and in a stroke of good fortune his MRI results came back clean, showing no structural damage at all.  Torey Lovullo described it as a "stinger" type injury. Both Carroll and the team still wanted to get the imaging and compare everything to his past imaging to make sure. 

Carroll said he hasn't had issues playing freely during games, but he still spends a lot of time putting in training and pre game preparation for maintenance on his surgically repaired shoulder.  Carroll suffered a torn Labrum on a swing early in the 2021 season, requiring surgery and missing the entire year.  He sat out two games this past weekend in Anaheim due to some shoulder soreness that popped up during the game with Tampa Bay. He said he felt no soreness today taking swings in the cage, and there is no inflammation, or feelings of tightness. 

Lovullo originally didn't have Carroll in the lineup and wanted to give him the day off, but Carroll pushed to be put back in the lineup,

Last year in Spring Training, Carroll spoke about a swing mechanics adjustment he was trying to implement where he keeps two hands on the bat longer on his follow through. This helps reduce pressure on the shoulder and manages the deceleration forces that impact his shoulder. He sounded quite enthusiastic about it at the time. You can listen to his comments starting at the 5:05 point of this audio or read about them here

It's been hit or miss when he actually executes this follow through.  Lovullo said that there is video of him doing both follow throughs.  Some of that might have to do with pitch location, as when he goes down and away to hit a ball the opposite way he's more likely to pull the top hand off.  Carroll said "I think any time you're up at the plate and you're thinking you're in trouble. I think in my work I try and emphasize the things that are going to help me in the game, but in the game your body is going to do what it's going to do."

The news is good today, but with Carroll's surgery history and two recent scares in the last week, the Diamondbacks and their fans may be holding their breath for a while until these issues fade into the background.