Where do Corbin Carroll and Pavin Smith’s months rank in franchise history?
Introduction
It’s been an up-and-down opening month for the D-Backs. After starting the month 12-7 coming off a three-game sweep of the Miami Marlins, the team ended it on a 5-7 slide following today’s satisfying series win over the Mets. There were plenty of bright spots amongst the frustration – most especially the offensive showings from both Corbin Carroll and Pavin Smith. For the former, he has looked like an entirely different player than the one we saw at the beginning of last season while the latter has proven all of the doubters (myself included) that he is more than capable of stepping into Christian Walker’s role. Their topline numbers, with slash lines like .286/.349/.609 for Carroll and .329/.469/.605 for Pavin speak for themselves, I’m always a big fan of adding context to the situation. And what better context is there as fans than comparing current numbers franchise icons of the past? So I decided to look back and see how this duet’s opening months stack up to any individual player’s month in franchise history.
J.D. Martinez, September/October 2017
This was such an iconic trade that in hindsight looks like a complete whiff by the Tigers as only one (Dawel Lugo) of the three players they received in turn made any real impression at the major league level. Meanwhile, after a lackluster August during which the veteran slashed just .232/.327/.546, Martinez jump started an already solid roster to another level that helped the team capture the top wild card spot and the third-best record in the National League. Over the final month of the season, Martinez posted a ridiculous .396/.431/.951 slash line that included swatting 16 home runs in 25 games. I have a very distinctive memory of this trade as I was in my first year of graduate school at the University of Arizona and was in the process of diving back into my D-Backs fandom. So it’s both nostalgic to look back and wild to see that we had just witnessed Martinez’s best month in his career.
Luis Gonzalez, June 2001
Unlike the above entry that was a pleasant surprise, I fully expected to see this list be dominated by players like Gonzalez – especially during what turned out to be a career year. What’s most impressive in my opinion is the fact that Gonzo managed to walk more than he struck out for the month (16 to 11) while still whacking 12 homers in 27 games. This month wasn’t the only time he completed similar feats as August of that same season saw Gonzalez nearly double his number of strikeouts with walks (25 to 13) and still collecting 10 home runs on the month. Those kinds of performances were exactly why he was such an excellent leader on an otherwise stacked roster and batted so well out of the third spot in the lineup on what also ended up being Gonzalez’s best single monthly performance.
Pavin Smith and Corbin Carroll, March/April 2025
Ironically, if I had written this article just a few days earlier, these two would rank significantly higher on the above list than they do – in the upper 30s for Smith and around 135th for Carroll. After the latter had his OPS peak at 1.158 after the series opener in Miami, Carroll has fallen back to the pack slightly with a .246/.279/.554 slash line over the final two weeks of the month. Most discouragingly, the league may have caught on to his more aggressive approach at the plate as his walk total halved in the latter half (three versus seven) while his strikeouts remained about the same. Meanwhile, Smith has been remarkably consistent throughout the month with just the last week or so seeing any meaningful drop in his numbers. Interestingly, that period has actually seen him become even more patient at the plate as he actually had more walks than strikeouts or hits. Both of them will need to find a happy medium on their approaches as the next month unfolds and ensure the team can continue the positive momentum until reinforcements arrive.