World Series: 4 Things the Texas Rangers must do to beat Arizona

#2 Keep Corbin Carroll in check

The rookie phenom is the engine for this Diamonbacks team. As he goes so goes the Diamondbacks offense. He led the team in hits, doubles, triples, and was second in home runs. He also had the highest OPS among qualified players. He was their best all-around player and he is just a rookie. Just an amazing season for a player that is likely to win the NL Rookie of the Year award next month.

Texas will need to really have a good game plan for Carroll. He excels against velocity. Fastballs and anything thrown hard does not really give him any issues. He does struggle against offspeed pitches. Slurves, changeups, cutters, and curveballs all gave him troubles this season. Against offspeed pitches he had a .238 batting average, and whiffed 22% of the time against those pitches. It seems tailor-made for Nathan Eovaldi in game one to be able to have success. It is not just about game one though.

The second thing with Carroll is to stay ahead in the count. If he is behind in the count he tends to either strike out and get put out. In 2023 when he fell behind in the count 1-2 he struck out 70 times and only worked a walk twice. In counts where he falls behind he has a .205 batting average. The worst thing a pitcher can do against Carroll is to pitch him timidly and let him get ahead. Challenge him with first pitch strikes, get ahead, and then get him out. He is still a rookie that is still learning.

If Texas can limit what Carroll then it will go a long way towards also limiting what Arizona can do and how many runs they can score. He is obviously not their only weapon, but limit Carroll and everyone else becomes less threatening.