Diamondbacks keep winning while best players are slumping. When will Corbin Carroll and Ketel Marte get hot?

PHOENIX — The Arizona Diamondbacks entered Sunday 19-14 since July 1 — the seventh-best record in all of baseball — and they are doing this with their most feared sluggers going through their most hushed stretches.

Since July 1, the Diamondbacks’ best hitter based on rate statistics (batting average, OPS) is catcher James McCann. The club’s most productive hitter in terms of hits and RBIs is catcher Gabriel Moreno. Third baseman Nolan Arenado is the home runs leader, and shortstop Geraldo Perdomo has drawn the most walks.

What about Corbin Carroll and Ketel Marte?

Since July 1:

• Corbin Carroll: .169/.283/.339, 3 HR, 66 wRC+ (100 is average)
• Ketel Marte: .192/.271/.296, 2 HR, 52 wRC+

And yet, the Diamondbacks have managed to score the sixth most runs in baseball over this stretch, with team at-bats and a one-on-nine mentality being preached by players and coaches.

“It’s been awesome to see the contributions we’ve gotten from different parts of the lineup,” Carroll told Arizona Sports. “It’s a lot more fun to play winning baseball.”

Carroll and Marte both make up one of the most unique duos in all of baseball: a 5-foot-10 dynamo who is the active triples leader and a switch-hitting second baseman who nears 200 career home runs (190).

And they have been star-caliber hitters when the Diamondbacks have most needed them, whether it was down the stretch of 2023, when the team turned around its 2024 season and after the 2025 trade deadline, when Arizona climbed back into the race.

But for over a month, it has been puzzling to watch the franchise faces be so subdued in these games.

On one hand, their struggles create a real question of sustainability for the lineup. As manager Torey Lovullo put it, if someone were to tell him before the season the D-backs could be in postseason position, he’d imagine Marte and Carroll would be leading the charge.

Can this team make it to October without getting the best out of its best players? It seems inconceivable, but the lineup depth over the past five weeks has shown the contrary. That is the biggest remaining question of the season so long as these struggles persist.

On the other hand, which is what excites team leadership, just think of the juice this offense could have if Marte and Carroll get going, alongside the improved depth from young players developing, the addition of Lars Nootbaar and strong play from veterans like McCann and Arenado.

“That was always the most important thing,” general manager Mike Hazen told Arizona Sports of getting more from his stars. “Getting that group going is sort of the engine of our offense. I think they’ve started to make moves, which is great, starting to come together and then the bottom part of our offense has been really good over the last month.”

Carroll struck out with two men on and popped out with two men on during Saturday’s 2-1 loss to the Dodgers, but he came through in the clutch with a game-tying triple in the ninth inning. Marte had a chance to win the game, but he popped out.

There are similarities for both players looking to break out, including not trying to do too much up there.

How are Corbin Carroll and Ketel Marte working to get out of this funk?

(Photo by Chris Coduto/Getty Images)

Corbin Carroll continues to adjust his hands

Carroll’s batting stance looks a bit different, as the perennial workhorse continues to try putting himself in better hitting position.

He moved his hands down in an effort to be more streamlined to the baseball.

“Just trying to fix my direction, basically,” Carroll said. “That’s what feels good right now, but I’m just trying to make sure that my hands don’t kind of get buried behind me and keep them showing to the pitcher a little bit more.”

“I’d say just working and trying to find the points of emphasis where when I go in the game, it keeps it simple,” he added. “Hopefully things take off from there. … I would say there’s been some positive signs in the games recently, just in terms of hitting a few more balls on a line. Just gotta keep working.”

A significant difference between his success in April/May to the middle of the summer is his strikeouts. They have increased from 17.5% in May to 25% in July, per Statcast. He’s whiffed at more fastballs this year (29%) than in any season since 2022.

But he has two strikeouts over his last five games, a positive trend.

The ball, meanwhile, is still coming off the bat pretty hard.

Hit hard-hit rate is actually higher in the second half of the season than the first (44.6% versus 38.3%), according to FanGraphs. His pop-ups have decreased while his ground balls and fly balls have gone up. Can he put it all together, with fewer strikeouts to give him more chances to find the turf (or the seats)?

Hitting coach Joe Mather said there have been some encouraging signs in his work behind the scenes.

“He had that tough stretch into the All-Star break, but I feel he’s coming out of that,” Mather told Arizona Sports. “He’s saying a lot of great things in the cage, talking about working through the middle, staying on the ball, hitting different pitch types and he’s challenging himself in the cage. Work ethic is never a problem.

“I know his hands, he wants to make a direct line with that. That’s been something that he’s talked about more recently. I think right now he’s in the right spot.”

Ketel Marte trying to do too much?

Marte was the “most unlucky hitter in baseball” to start the season, according to Mather. Marte’s expected numbers were brought up almost daily during that time, typically in making a point that he was bound to turn it around. His expected slugging percentage was over .630 in both April and May, and he was batting .222 with a .368 slugging percentage on May 18.

That turnaround started six weeks into the season. Marte hit for a .992 OPS with 12 home runs across 39 games from May 19 to July 1 (ninth best in baseball).

Given how well he struck the ball through the first half of the season — even when the results weren’t there — perhaps there was a natural letdown coming. But this malaise has lasted a while.

“It’s extremely difficult to be hot the entire season,” Mather said.

“There’s another wave coming, which is great because that’s going to take us right in, hopefully, to postseason baseball. He’s working, staying through the middle, working on keeping his head on the ball, all the things you should do when your at-bats aren’t as clean as you want them to be. … He’s still Ketel Marte. The pitcher is still nervous to throw to him. So he has to battle that too. Like he’s always being pitched difficult.”

The peripheral numbers are not the same as earlier this season, with more whiffs, more chase and more strikeouts:

• His 7.7% walk rate is his lowest since 2020, which was a 60-game season.
• His chase rate is 32%, his highest since 2016, before the Diamondbacks even traded for him.
• His chase contact is 61%, above the 57% league average, as he puts more balls in play on pitches out of the zone.

Marte is an aggressive hitter with a violent swing, but it looks like he is trying to swing his way out of these struggles.

What can he do to break out of it?

“He is working as hard as anybody to have good results,” Lovullo said. “So, probably trying to do too much. That’s how he’s wired. He wants to be the guy.

“We’ve been having this offensive identity that we’re just playing baseball one through nine. So, if he can get into that mindset that he can just be himself and not have to worry about carrying the heavy workload, I think he’s going to be in a better spot. When he chases and swings at balls and misses balls that are hittable, it tells me he wants it really bad. He wants to be able to drive the baseball enough to carry this workload, but he doesn’t have to.”

If there is a positive sign for Marte, it is that he has drawn six walks in his last five games. He is getting the kitchen sink from pitchers but checking off tough pitches out of the zone will at least put him in better hitting counts to attack.

It is worth noting that both players have dealt with minor injuries throughout this season and taken minimal time off. Marte received a day off on Wednesday, while Carroll has played every game since June 21. Lovullo said both players are healthy, but sometimes competitors get a second wind when they can see the finish line.

Related

Diamondbacks had Dodgers cornered, but they slipped away to set up season-series rubber matchNolan Arenado recognized for winning Diamondbacks’ Heart and Hustle AwardIn most playoff-like game of the year, Diamondbacks rookie Ryan Waldschmidt walks off DodgersMerrill Kelly has cramping issues resurface vs. DodgersD-backs OF Corbin Carroll leaps to unbelievably rob HR vs. DodgersMichael Soroka trending toward Monday return, Jordan Lawlar could be back during upcoming road trip