Ryne Nelson/Randal Grichuk Power the Dbacks vs Giants. How Corbin Carroll Became NL Player of Month

what are we discussing on today's locked on Dbacks podcast Ryan Nelson and Randle gritch power the Dbacks to a game one victory over the Giants and how did Corbin Carroll turn into the national League's player of the month for [Music] August you are a locked on Diamondback your daily Arizona Diamondbacks podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every [Music] day welcome in to the locked on Dbacks podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day you're listening to who the always charismatic host of this podcast Miller Thomas my multimedia journalist animal graphic designers please go check out my website Miller Thomas 24. portfolio.com on there you can see all my latest work from my packages to my articles to my photos and my graphic design today's episode is brought to you by Game Time download the game time app create an account and use code lockdown MLB for $20 off your first purchase terms apply download game time today what time is it game time on today's lock on Dbacks podcast we'll talk about the Dbacks bouncing back against a different California team in the Giants Corbin Caroll turning into the player of the month of the national league and the hottest and coldest players from the Dbacks in the month of August thank you for making lock on Dbacks your first listen every day I would not be able to do this podcast without you my loyal listeners sharing subscribing and viewing doing all that so I could do this podcast for you thank you it's free it's available on all platforms so please continue to tell your friends and one of those platforms is YouTube please hit subscribe to locked on Diamondbacks on YouTube but now let's get into the locked on Dbacks podcast let's talk about their bounceback victory over a different California team this time the San Francisco Giants Dbacks escape with an 8-7 Victory because the Giants offense and the Dbacks Bullpen tried their best to blow this game up Ryan Thompson comes in he gives up four runs in the eighth Martinez looks a little shaky there in the eighth and Ninth as well but the Dbacks do just enough to escape Christian Walker comes back in this one and he delivers a big clutch hit in the ninth inning to give the Dbacks an extra insurance run and the Dbacks desperately needed because the Giants score in the bottom of the ninth would have tied up the game but thankfully we got that run Martinez closes out the Giants and the Dbacks get a bounceback victory and I was scared in this one after the fifth inning when the Dbacks were up what seven to one after five I thought this game was over I thought the Dbacks were cruising to a victory I was prepping the podcast notes I was like maybe I even hop on like after the seventh inning or something because I was so confident in the Dbacks winning this game and then all of a sudden the eighth inning rolled around Ryan Thompson who has been so fantastic for most of the Season really struggling in the month of August we'll talk about that later in segment number three as we go through the hottest and coldest players but you remember when Ryan Thompson was like a one5 ER for like three months there well Ryan Thompson now after giving up four earn runs today 332 ER and now we have to have a conversation about Ryan Thompson and if he deserves the Paul Seawall treatment if he deserves the early early season Kevin GLE treatment where you put him in some lower leverage moments some less pressurized situation earlier inning situations because right now need him to rebuild his confidence and you re re re renil you re you need to rebuild the trust that the Dbacks have in Ryan Thompson because right now that is not there despite him still getting the ball in high leverage moments Ryan Thompson really struggled in this game and almost blew the game for the Dbacks and I was watching this I was like when was the last time a dback had a game like this when they're up like four five six runs and they blow it Dbacks don't really have many games like that yes they have games where they might lose by six or seven runs or they might even have a game where they're up like a run lay in the game and then the other team comes back and clutches it out in the eighth or ninth inning there's not too many games where the Dbacks are blowing out the other team through the first few Innings and all of a sudden the other team comes back and beats the Dbacks because a the Dbacks have a really good offense so typically they can hold off other teams offense when they have a big lead or B their Bullpen typically has been good enough to hold off any large comebacks this season the last time this has really happened to the dback statistically I don't know but visually from you know watching the games this season you know I was like this was very reminisent of early in the season when the Dbacks were playing the Braves like one of the first series of the year and the Dbacks kept taking big leads early in those games and the Braves would come back and beat the Dbacks that's what this game gave me the Vibes of I'm sure there's probably a game a lot more recent than that Braves series that has happened where the Dbacks had a big lead and then the other team came back but I I couldn't really think of one in the moment and the Braves was the one that was most familiar to me at the top of my mind and that's the Vibes that I kind of got from this game against the Giants but unlike those brav games earlier in the year the Dbacks did just enough to close this one out because unlike those bra games earlier in the year the Dbacks offense now clutch in late game situations because those first two months Dbacks were awful late in close situations after the seventh inning the offense did nothing now the Dbacks offense thrives in those kind of situations and we saw it tonight where Christian Walker back from the injur list came through in the ninth for the Dbacks but the real stars of this game I don't want to bury the lead the two RS Ryan Nelson and Randle gritch were the two stars in this game gritch with Lords gel I mean we get Christian Walker back now Lords gel is on the injur list hopefully it sounds like not that serious short stint should hopefully be activated as soon as the stint is over and then come back that's the best case scenario hopefully that can happen but Rand gritch I mean he steps in immediately with Lords guel out and delivers a huge statline three for five three RB three run scored and two big bombs and this is why I said on yesterday's podcast if guriel is going to be out Rand gritch needs to play every single day not just when there's a lefty on the mound when there's a righty on the mound too just make the two dh's jock Peterson and Josh Bell because neither one of them can play in the Outfield defensively you know who else can't play in the Outfield defensively paven Smith I do not care if there's a Ry on the Mounds you're like oh we got to put paven Lefty out there put him in corner Outfield because he's a lefty I do not want to see that gritch is better offensively defensively better than pav Smith and then from an offensive lineup standpoint your DH could either be jock Peterson or Josh Bell there is really no need for paven Smith to ever play unless it's like a pinch hit situation or something like that but in terms of starting it's just hard to find where paven Smith can play right now for the Dbacks Ryan Nelson he continues to just dominate for Arizona and continues to look like the best starter I mean how long does he have to to pitch you know like a superstar before his erra dips below four because Ryan Nelson now I mean we've talked about it uh it's two months now since July 1 Ryan Nelson has been absolutely Elite for the Dbacks and still his eay is not below a four yet it really tells you how maybe bad he was to start the season for Arizona because in the month of April March 4.6 earray May 693 earray June 5.2 ER but since the start of July he's basically been like a 29 guy and the eye test and the stats backed that up because we saw it again tonight Ryan Nelson 102 pitches nine strikeouts a quality start and you just feel like if there's two strikes on that opposing batter Ryan Nelson's getting the strike out he's blowing by the guy with either a fast bar cutter and just dotting it on the corner perfectly like the command and the location right now for Ryan Nelson fantastic maybe he doesn't always have the Stu but I feel like the command is there for him right now and he's looking fantastic and that's why I keep beating the drum that maybe Ryan Nelson should be the game one starter for the Dbacks in the postseason and maybe at least if not that at least be locked into a rotation spot because that's how good he's been the last couple months Dbacks big bounceback victory also don't want to forget Corbin Carroll fantastic in this one double had some big moments in this game he is getting active on the bases he looks so comfortable at the plate right now we're going to be talking about him in segment number two how he turned into the national League's August player of the month but hey if you want to get into daily fantasy sports then I suggest using prize picks because prize is America's number one daily fantasy sports app with over 5 million active members it is the easiest and most exciting way to play daily fantasy sports unlike other apps on prize picks is just you against the numbers all you do is pick more or less on two to six player stats projections and watch the winnings roll in right now on prize picks it's great because they invented the flex play which means you can still cash out if your lineup isn't perfect you can double your money even if one of your picks doesn't hit can you believe that winning money despite not getting everything correct you don't have to be no Shamus out here to win money with prize picks that's why I love it so much download the prize picks app today and use 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want it's easy to make your car the MVP and bring home huge wins keep your ride or die aive at ebaymotors.com eligible items only exclusions apply eBay guaranteed fit only available to us customers all right all right all right let's get back into the lockdown Dbacks podcast let's talk about Corbin Carol wining Renning winning National League player of the month Corbin Carroll has been on fire for the Dbacks in the month of August and he is now being recognized by the rest of the sport Major League Baseball thank you for recognizing Corbin Carol and how well he's been playing in the month of August because it has been quite a turnaround for the reigning rookie of the year because at one point this was a terrible season a frustrating season by Corbin Caroll at one point we thought this was you know that sophomore slump season the season that you just got throw away and we were having concerns about was Corbin Carroll just a one-year wonder I didn't think that I thought he was still going to be fine but how he started the season the first couple months I couldn't blame you if you might have had that thought just trickle into your mind there was conversations about whether Corbin Carrol or not should be option to the minor leagues fix his swing rebuild his confidence like there was so many theories and conspiracies about what's wrong with Corbin Carol how can we fix swing does he need to see a a swing doctor like what do the Dbacks need to do to fix Carol and Carol all we needed was a little time because he eventually fixed himself and if you look at his season you can basically split it down the middle because it's been a tale of two halves for Corbin Carroll and just like a yanel Suarez I I don't think it's fair to say he's having if you're comparing this season to last year in totality it's a down year but I don't think this season is disappointing I think it was a disappointing first half but now in the second half he's been fantastic coron Carroll is basically like what the Dbacks were last year or the Dbacks were this year where they only can play a good half of baseball last year the Dbacks were great in the first half terrible in the second half this year Dbacks awful in the first half great in the second half seeing with Corbin Carroll seeing with a Yano Suarez and now Carol is waking up at the perfect time we saw those with Julio Rodriguez last year right he won Rookie of the Year sophomore year struggling big time but then really heated up those last couple months second half of the season and ended up salvaging his year Corbin Carroll is going to end up doing the same thing his numbers not going to look as good as they were last year but he's going to end up salvaging his season and end up putting up a a decent slash line and he can still finish with around 250 average and maybe around at 8 00 Ops if he can keep up his August rate for the rest of September and we've talked so much about Corbin Carroll and what has gone into his turnaround him shrinking The Zone him being more picky on the type of pitches he wants to see and it's not just us talking about it the numbers bear it out because you look at Corin Carroll's numbers on the season uh the first half of the year March to July 6 that's kind of when Corbin Carrol's season flipped July 7th is when it's flipped so if you look at his numbers July 6 and everything prior to that Corbin Carol is one of the worst players in Major League Baseball a 72 WRC plus and on July 6 his WRC plus was actually one point lower at this point of the year than a a Yano Suarez Corman Carol on July 6 was actually considered by Fang grab a worst offensive player than a yeno sorz and we know how bad aeno has been at the time aeno had a 29% strikeout rate had a batting average below Corbin Carroll a walk rate below Corbin Carroll and despite all that being true he still had a WRC plus one point higher than Corbin Carroll on July 6 that tells you how bad the first half of Corbin's Carrol season was the first 87 games of Corbin Carrol season season 210 average 298 OBP 310 slug only two home runs those first 87 games it was a terrible first half of the season for Carol but now you look at his numbers since July 7th it's been a complete turnaround for Carol third highest WRC Plus on the team since that date behind ketto Marte and Jack Peterson Corin Carroll since or cor Carrol since July 7th WRC plus 167 first 87 games it was a 72 as last 47 games it's a 167 he's more than double the offensive player he was the first 87 games of the Season look at his numbers the last 47 275 average 352 OBP 661 Slug and those are the numbers entering today's game against the Giants so those don't account for this game one Victory against the Giants but think about how insane that is tied for the team lead in home runs with a Yano with 17 since July 7th I'm not surprised aano has that many since then yes he struggled in the first half but aano is a guy who has multiple 30 home run seasons of 49 home run season like we know the power is there for aeno but for Carol he went to a major power drought in the second half of last season and then didn't have any power in the first 87 games of this year then all of a sudden 17 home run runs in his last 47 games insane stuff for Carol now you look at his numbers from the month of August crazy stuff a 173 WRC Plus in August most home runs on the team 11 almost double the next guy and jock Peterson or kto Marte with six a piece Carol 280 average 342 OBP and a 700 slug in the month of August insane stuff and when you look at his numbers month by month the stuff that has really stood out is his numbers against a fastball and offspeed Pitch because last year Carol absolutely dominated the fast ball 296 average 521 slugging against the fast ball last year but to start this season Carol really struggled against that fast ball 171 average 229 slug in the first month of the Season against the fastball second month 237 average against the fastball and then all of a sudden in the month of June something clicked for Carol and he started turning it on and when we talk about him shrinking The Zone getting more particular that fast ball is where he's really started to do damage because he crushed that pitch all last season he did not crush crush it the first two months of this season but now he is 304 average against the fastball in June 306 average against the fast ball in August and he seems to have turned his season around we had to be patient with the rookie of the year we can see the Dbacks right their W their record has taken off at the same rate as Corbin Carrol since he's taken off in the second half of this season so for the Dbacks we've always said this offense is gonna go as Corbin Carroll goes we've always said even when this offense has been great at times this year there's another level there's another level that this offense can get to if Corbin Carroll ever turns it around and we're seeing it right now and so for the Dbacks great to see Corin Carroll turn around his season but there's a couple other guys that we need to see them turn it around because they struggled in the month of August and we'll talk about those guys in segment number three but hey if you're looking to buy tickets to an upcoming Dbacks game and the place you want to go is going to be game time because game time is the best place for last minut tickets for concerts Sports comedy theater and more they have this thing called all all in price when you toggle this feature on you can see the total cost up front with no surprise fees at check out get a panoramic view from your C in the app before you buy they also have the lowest price guarantee on game time and if it's not they will credit you up to 110% of the difference take the guest workk out of buying tickets with Game Time download the game time app create an account and use code locked on MLB for $20 off your first purchase CS apply again create an account on redeem code locked on MLB for $20 off download game time today what time is it game time all right all right all right let's get back to the locked on Dbacks podcast let's talk about the hottest and coldest players more specifically Dbacks from the month of August and as we just laid out of course Corbin Carroll the hottest player from the month of August for the Dbacks I mean absolutely incredible and you could just see it like this game tonight was a great microcosm of it because he's just spraying the ball all around up the right field line up the left field line like the the swing is back for Corbin Carroll where he just slap shotting it all over the field and he's just driving it like being in the ballpark forgot what game it was it was one of his uh two Home Run games recently and uh I was in the ball it was whatever game hit like that Grand Slam very late in the ball game to put the Dbacks up 8 to four like last week I can't remember the game off the top of my head but in the in the stadium like you could hear the crack of Corbin Carroll's bat he has so much power again and we hadn't really seen that the last you know second half of last year to the first half of this year we hadn't really seen it you go to a game right now you're in you're in the stands for a COR Carol home run you will hear it before you see it because it is so loud right now and he's not the only Dbacks player that's having an incredible month of August because as we're about to get into the hottest and coldest players for the Dbacks this past month when you look at the lineup again we we did this after July where we said everyone in the Dbacks lineup had a great month the only everyday player that needed to pick it up in the month of August coming from July was Lords guel he was like the only Everyday contributor with a WRC plus under 100 leaving July entering August and now entering September LS guel just finished yes he's on the injury list now but prior to that his August 141 WRC plus 304 average a almost a 400 OBP a 476 slugging like a walk rate not that far off from his K rate like he had a fantastic month of August and so he was able to turn around his his season or not his season but he was able to turn around his month to month from July to August and going from August to September looking at the lineup there's not really anyone you could say which is kind of crazy but of everyday players everyone on the Dbacks is doing good there's currently 10 players from the month of August that have over a 100 WRC plus the only players that don't Luis gor and I'm like I don't care about Luis guor I want him to get cut as soon as kto Marte comes back Kevin Newman had a 78 WRC plus I'm with whatever Kevin Newman does he's been I think actually better than expected this season he's been a little bit of a bright spot for Arizona he's been able to hold it down with the Domo injuries the kto Marte injuries the stats when we get to the end of the season are not going to look pretty but the eye test of watching Newman day-to-day over the course of a 162 Game season he's had a way better season than I think what the numbers are going to say at the end of the year I've been fine with Newman I'm fine with him having a WRC plus under 100 Jose Herrera and he also had a big game today I forgot to mention him Kevin Newman was huge in the Giants uh in the Dbacks win over the Giants then Jose Herrera also WRC plus under 100 so we can go through the whole lineup Marte Peterson Carol ADC guriel mcarthy Domo Bell Yano gritch all of them RC plus over 100 and the craziest thing is gritch has the lowest WRC plus of this list 102 leaving August well guriel is out we see gritch as a starter two home runs I mean he has like three home runs what in his last three games like gritch has been really good this season no qualms when looking at the lineup for the Dbacks just keep doing what you're doing because the offense has been incredible but now that takes us to the pitching because we saw Ryan Thompson today we saw him struggle and after today's outing I imagine he has the highest earray of all Dbacks pitchers in the month of August I haven't done the math but entering to today's game Thompson had a 617 eay in the month of August 617 then he gave up four earn runs today the person with the worst eay for the Dbacks in the month of August has a 675 eay that's Merl Kelly imagine Thompson's eay this month is going to be higher than that we go up and down the pitching staff not good stuff by the dback pitchers this month Kelly 675 earr in the month of August he needs to be a lot better not striking out dudes at all not fooling guys at all giving up some pop as well giving up some Walks Like This is not the Kelly that we're used to Dylan floro has never been able to find it with the Dbacks he also strikes out nobody which is fine but gives up way too many hits he's got 63 eay the month of August we we already detailed Ryan Thompson his struggles this month I mean we saw it on display against San Fran brenon fought 604 eray in the month of August he's striking out people at a good rate maybe giving up a little bit too much hard contact maybe a couple of home runs too many I like Brandon F A lot it just feels like he's hitting a little bit of a wall before the season ends Monty 511 eay in the month of August and I thought he wasn't that bad in his most recent outing before getting hurt Rod 506 eay in the month of August his issue is he doesn't throw enough strikes he needs to throw more strikes because I don't think been that bad it it just feels like he's just always laboring and and having to throw so many pitches but there is like a part of me that feels more confident in rrod right now than like a gallon or a Kelly which feels kind of scary and then after that Zack Allen he's the last guy 494 e in the month of August those guys have not been good and if you notice the trend most of them are starters in the rotation Gallen Rod F and Kelly Monte used to be a starter but he's been so so bad all those guys have an ER of at least five gallon just missed out 494 but will round it up to a five like that's terrible R Nelson the month of August worst month in July still had a 319 earray in the month of August then starts off September six and two thirs two earn runs nine strikeouts Ryan Nelson's fantastic manly had a good August GLE Martinez and AJ Puck but I I'm really looking at the Kelly's the the Thompson the fs the E rods the gallons like you guys have to be better just not good enough Paul sewald he wasn't the best in the month of August either 466 eay but not as bad as some other guys there are some other dback pitchers that are more immediate in terms of them needing to turn it around for the rest of the month of September so the starters need to get it together and Ryan Thompson needs to get it together because this is the stretch run of the season for the Dbacks if they don't want to fall out of the Wild Card race those guys better start pitching better better start pitching better I don't know how strong that was to end the podcast but thank you for making this another locked on dime backs podcast that's it come back tomorrow for more Dbacks news coverages and insight and as always stay safe stay healthy doses