The slugger could not bunt. This was no surprise — when you slug .600, why play small ball? — but it bothered Corbin Carroll.
In March, Carroll, the centerpiece of the upstart Arizona Diamondbacks, agreed to an eight-year, $111 million contract, with a ninth-year team option. It was the largest guarantee ever for a player with fewer than 100 days of major league service, and while bunting was not the reason, of course, Carroll’s desire to bunt explained a lot.
The Diamondbacks had started bunting more last season, so practice drills filtered down to the minors. Carroll was playing for the Class AA team in Amarillo, Texas, when the scout Jeff Gardner, an organizational troubleshooter, visited to work on bunts.