Like the Rox, McCarthy is ready for a turnaround

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DENVER -- Outfielder Jake McCarthy sees himself in the same situation as the Rockies after arriving in a trade with the Diamondbacks for Minor League pitcher Josh Grosz on Saturday.

McCarthy, 28, struggled and spent time in Triple-A last season after becoming a solid part of Arizona’s outfield mix in previous seasons.

“I got away from things that I've done really well in the past,” said McCarthy, who learned of the trade on his first wedding anniversary when his wife, Sophie, took a call from his agent. “I know what I'm capable of, and I’m super-excited to have a fresh start here, to be ready in spring to compete for a job and help a new team win. I don't take this opportunity lightly.

“I understand that this is an organization that wants to turn things around. Looking at last year, I want to turn things around, too. I'm right where I need to be.”

McCarthy’s speed and ability to put balls in play led to a 117 OPS+ (100 is MLB average) as a rookie in 2022, and a 108 in 2024. But last year, with his struggles leading to reduced playing time and an option to Triple-A Reno, McCarthy managed a 62 OPS+ in just 67 games. He played in 142 games in ‘24.

McCarthy’s game is based on speed. His average sprint speed of 29.9 feet per second was tied for eighth among MLB players last season. (Rockies center fielder Brenton Doyle was at 29.5 feet per second.) McCarthy covered the outfield well, and he stole 74 bases from 2022-24.

Trying to expand his game last year, however, became problematic.

“After 2024 having a good year, you think, ‘This is what I do. Now let's maybe tap into the stuff that I don't do well,’” McCarthy said. “What happened was I got a little better at some of the things that I was lacking, but I think I completely forfeited the things that made me a good player and gave me a lot of opportunity for the Diamondbacks.

“There’s an opportunity to slug, but what really makes me go and makes me valuable is working good at-bats, getting on base and being a good defender. The version of me that you saw last year wasn’t putting myself in position to help the team.”

McCarthy adds a left-handed bat to a position-player mix that was heavily right-handed last season and raises the experience level in the outfield. He joins lefty-hitting Mickey Moniak and right-handed bats Doyle, Jordan Beck and Tyler Freeman -- who can get starts at second base when not in right field or serving as designated hitter.

If their outfielders are healthy and productive, the Rockies won’t be forced to call on a group of prospects, some of whom saw Major League time before they were sufficiently developed.

There should be plenty of opportunity for McCarthy.

“As with all young players, there are going to be some variations year to year in terms of their output,” president of baseball operations Paul DePodesta said. “Some of that could be attributable to luck -- [McCarthy has] had pretty significant differences in terms of his batting average on balls in play over the course of the past couple years. There was also a significant difference in playing time.”

A first-round Draft pick out of the University of Virginia in 2018, McCarthy finished fourth in National League Rookie of the Year voting in ‘22. In ‘23, when the Diamondbacks marched to the World Series before falling to the Rangers, he was on the postseason roster until sustaining an oblique injury during batting practice before the first postseason game. And last year’s struggles came in his final year of Minor League options.

McCarthy doesn’t see himself as “dishing out advice left and right, but I’ve experienced some things that can maybe give insight to other people.”

McCarthy -- who had agreed last week to a one-year, $1.525 million contract to avoid arbitration in his first year of eligibility -- is one of six position players on Colorado’s 40-man Major League roster with at least three years’ MLB service time.

“It’s important to have some people with life experience, you know, as well as big league experience,” DePodesta said. “One of the things that we were looking at when we added [former Red Sox lefty reliever Brennan] Bernardino early in the offseason was that he has not only three years of or just about three years of Major League time, but he has significant life experience and that adds something, too.”

McCarthy has already seen a Diamondbacks team quickly become a winner.

“When I got called up in 2021 in August, we had the worst record in the league,” he said. “And in 2022 we picked it up in the second half, and in ‘23 we were in the World Series. Obviously, I’m not taking responsibility for that, but I was on a team that turned it around pretty quickly.

“We played the Rockies a bunch when I was with Arizona, so I had a front-row seat to all the talent in this clubhouse. I’m excited to be a part of it, and I want to be trending upward, playing the game the right way and giving us a shot to do some damage.”