DENVER — Diamondbacks outfielder Corbin Carroll was out of the lineup for Sunday’s series finale against the Colorado Rockies, but he said he is hoping to be back in action relatively soon after suffering a left knee contusion on Saturday night.
“I’m hoping a couple of days,” Carroll said. “Going to kind of see what happens. I’m walking better than I was walking yesterday. It’s a step in the right direction, I guess.”
Still, the Diamondbacks say they are going to send Carroll for an MRI on Monday in Texas. Manager Torey Lovullo originally said on Saturday night that imaging would not be necessary, but he said the club has decided to do so for “precautionary measures.”
“I don’t want to be misleading; it’s still trending in a very, very positive direction,” Lovullo said. “But just to rule everything out, we just thought with the off day, let’s take advantage of it.”
Carroll crashed into the left-field wall in the sixth inning on Saturday night. He was running full speed in pursuit of a Ryan McMahon drive, left his feet and rammed his left knee into the fence.
“I knew I was going to go up against it (the wall),” Carroll said. “I had seen it out of my peripheral. Just kind of the way that I twisted, trying to jump up and make a play, the knee kind of got extended at the wrong time. Kind of just hit it at full deflection and didn’t really have anywhere to go.”
But Carroll said he had a feeling pretty early on that he didn’t suffer a significant injury.
“It hurt, but I didn’t feel anything pop,” he said. “I didn’t feel anything (alarming). It just felt like I hit a wall really hard. It doesn’t feel great, but I wasn’t incredibly concerned.”
The Diamondbacks do not appear to be expecting Carroll to be available off the bench on Sunday; they recalled outfielder Dominic Fletcher from Triple-A Reno to serve as depth.
Still, the Diamondbacks consider themselves fortunate when it comes to the severity of Carroll’s injury.
“It’s a very encouraging sign,” Lovullo said of how Carroll was feeling on Sunday morning. “Like I said last night, I think we dodged a bullet. He’s going to be day-to-day. It’s a very good sign that he’s very encouraged about how he’s feeling.”
D-Backs could be pointing towards Brandon Pfaadt’s debut in Texas
DENVER — The Diamondbacks listed right-hander Zac Gallen as their starter for Tuesday night in Texas, but they left their Wednesday starter as “TBA.” This could mean the club is preparing to give the ball to top pitching prospect Brandon Pfaadt for his major-league debut.
Pfaadt last pitched on Wednesday in Triple-A Reno, meaning he would be going on an additional two days of rest.
Pfaadt, 24, has a 3.91 ERA in 25 1/3 innings in Reno, with six walks and 30 strikeouts.
The club has gone back and forth in recent days about whether it intends to stick with its current four-man rotation, something it can do with a schedule filled with upcoming days off, or go with a typical five-man alignment.
Diamondbacks recall Dominic Fletcher from Triple-A Reno
With Corbin Carroll’s availability uncertain, the Diamondbacks recalled outfielder Dominic Fletcher from Triple-A Reno, giving them additional outfield coverage from a player known for being an excellent defender.
This is Fletcher’s first trip to the majors. He was hitting .323/.417/.559 with Triple-A Reno with three home runs.
Fletcher made his debut in the late innings of Sunday’s 12-4 loss to the Colorado Rockies. He doubled to left center with one out in the eighth inning, getting his first career hit in his first major league at-bat. He nearly had another hit in the ninth, but Rockies shortstop Ezequiel Tovar made a nice play on a ball up the middle to end the game.
Fletcher is regarded by some as the top defensive outfielder in the organization. Although he does not have top-scale speed, he gets excellent jumps and takes terrific routes to track down fly balls.
He has seen his offensive production improve over the past couple of seasons, something team officials attribute to improved pitch selection.
“I feel like I’ve been controlling the strike zone pretty well,” Fletcher said. “Looking for a pitch and getting it in my zone and putting a good swing on it.”
Fletcher was drafted in 2019 with a competitive balance pick the Diamondbacks received as part of the Paul Goldschmidt trade with the St. Louis Cardinals.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Diamondbacks to send Corbin Carroll for tests; Brandon Pfaadt’s promotion appears imminent