SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- For as many as 17 weeks last season, Corbin Carroll felt lost. He often wondered if he'd get sent down to the minor leagues. At times, he doubted he'd ever be good again.
Carroll had breezed through the Arizona Diamondbacks' system in 2022, taken Major League Baseball by storm as a 22-year-old in 2023 and entered 2024 already regarded as one of the game's best players. Then, for four months, Carroll -- a unanimous choice for the National League Rookie of the Year Award just a season earlier -- became one of the worst hitters in the sport.