Diamondbacks hope history repeats itself with Jake McCarthy

PHOENIX — Arizona Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo recalls a conversation in his office with outfielder Jake McCarthy during the 2022 season.

The D-backs decided to send McCarthy down to Triple-A Reno, and McCarthy bluntly let Lovullo know how he felt about that choice.

“His breakout season was 2022, if I can remember correctly,” Lovullo said on Tuesday. “We sent him down and he sat in my office and said, ‘You’re sending the wrong (expletive) player down. I’m going to go down and dominate, hit .400 for you and I’ll be back.'”

McCarthy did, came back up and finished the season on a terrific note, batting .302 from July 11-on.

Lovullo is hoping history repeats itself now with the 27-year-old.

The Diamondbacks optioned McCarthy on Monday amid a miserable start to the season at the plate. Arizona recalled outfielder Jorge Barrosa in his stead.

McCarthy is 3-for-41 with the lowest hard-hit rate (16.7) among anyone with 40 or more plate appearances. He’s coming off a solid performance in 2024 (.749 OPS), but he hasn’t been spraying the ball around for hits this time.

What really did him in was what the club saw in other elements of his game, both on defense and the base paths.

“There were some mistakes being made around his game we felt like was all connected,” Lovullo said.

“The at-bats going whatever he was is hard to go through. It’s easy to do because the league is so good. But once you’re there and it starts to trickle into other parts of your game such as the pick-offs or some of the plays he was failing to make on defense, we couldn’t help but start to take notice. A little bit of a reboot might matter to him.”

Lovullo was met with some frustration when he told McCarthy the news, and the manager gave his player a message he’s heard before. He compared the option to a two-to-three-week road trip.

There is little doubt McCarthy will be back to help the D-backs after finding some answers in Reno.

“Jake is built on the right things and he’s going to find his way back here,” Lovullo said. “I will say this like I said it every year, our best outfield and our best team has Jake in it.”

A mental reboot in Reno could be beneficial for Jake McCarthy, Diamondbacks skipper Torey Lovullo says, noting he saw mistakes being made that "we felt like it was all connected." pic.twitter.com/2JCHdgDyok

— Arizona Sports (@AZSports) April 23, 2025

For the time being, Alek Thomas is positioned to receive the bulk of the playing time in center field, as he and McCarthy entered the season splitting reps.

Barrosa can help fill in as a plus defender at all three spots.

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