Jake McCarthy ‘getting back to what makes me good’ in resurgent season for Rockies

PHOENIX — When the Arizona Diamondbacks traded outfielder Jake McCarthy to the Colorado Rockies last winter, McCarthy was coming off his worst major league season for a team that faced a position-player surplus.

On Monday, in the visiting clubhouse at Chase Field, his Rockies teammates started to hype him up as MLB Network showed him on the TVs. McCarthy just won his first career National League Player of the Week award — something he did not realized existed — a highlight of his resurgent season for Colorado.

“I mean, last year was pretty rough,” McCarthy said. “But I think when you don’t play well, you learn.”

McCarthy is not a much different player than his best years in Arizona.

He still is not an exit velocity darling nor does he walk often, although he has blasted a career-high 13 home runs. Where he has been particularly successful is spraying line drives all over the place, becoming an effective lead-off hitter with regular playing time.

Among 39 players with at least 150 plate appearances in the lead-off spot, McCarthy’s .307 batting average ranked third entering Monday.

“I think it’s getting back to what makes me good,” McCarthy said. “I think last year I sort of got away from doing what I do well. I think that’s being competitive on a daily basis. When I reflect on last year, I think a lot of at-bats ended in a pop-out or just early, weak contact. I’m trying to hit as many line drives around the field as possible. I’m sure the big outfield of Coors (Field) does help.

“I think it’s a number of different things. I’m just very grateful to have the amount of at-bats I’ve had this far in the season. Just hitting me at the top of the lineup and my teammates being in scoring position a ton for me to impact the game with what could be just a line drive to the outfield. It’s been a really fun season so far.”

McCarthy hit .204 last season and was a negative-WAR (wins above replacement) player for the first time. The D-backs fielded calls for McCarthy and Alek Thomas over the offseason and took an offer from Colorado of pitching prospect Josh Grosz — who has a 4.46 ERA in hitter-friendly Double-A Amarillo.

In hindsight, having this version of McCarthy would have helped a team that has since signed a left-handed outfielder in Max Kepler and traded for another in Lars Nootbaar. Arizona designated Thomas for assignment and traded him to the Los Angeles Dodgers for a 17-year-old prospect back in May. The club went from a left-handed-heavy outfield to a right-handed outfield surplus pretty quickly.

But the unanswerable question is would McCarthy have been this successful without the change of scenery?

McCarthy has taken advantage of Coors Field, hitting .318 with a .904 OPS, but his numbers on the road are pretty good, as well (.293 average, .810 OPS). Changing teams involves much more than switching home ballparks, though.

He made his return to Chase Field in May, receiving an ovation from the crowd. He played 431 games with the franchise and is seventh in team history with 83 stolen bases, playing with a hair-on-fire style on the bases.

McCarthy said it was weird being in the visiting clubhouse in May, so this latest trip was more routine. He spoke to Corbin Carroll on Monday and still keeps in contact with several former Diamondbacks teammates.

“Alek is not there anymore, but that’s someone. Even like Ryne Nelson, (Brandon) Pfaadt, all those guys, I’m rooting for them,” McCarthy said. “Maybe not in the next three days, but they’re all good guys. Our wives are friends. I’ve got a lot of friends over in that clubhouse.”

McCarthy was first in the Colorado lineup on Monday.

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