Q&A with Jake McCarthy: What went right during the Scranton native's rookie year
Oct. 6—He never wanted to know the running total, but now that his rookie season is over, Jake McCarthy stole 23 bases for the Arizona Diamondbacks, fifth most in the National League.
Speaking of running, the 25-year-old Scranton native's top sprint speed of 30.1 feet per second ranked in the 98th percentile among big leaguers and by one metric, Fangraphs' all-encompassing baserunning number (BsR), his work on the base paths was the third best in baseball from a runs-added standpoint.
Among his fellow rookies, he finished in the top 10 in both Fangraphs' and Baseball-Reference's wins above replacement (WAR) — a number that should help him get a healthy pay boost when baseball's new $50 million pre-arbitration bonus pool is doled out this offseason — and his 91 hits were the 14th most. One of those came off Clayton Kershaw; another, a single against Justin Verlander.
Any number of stats can be sliced and diced to show that what McCarthy did this season was impressive. But after thinking he had to reinvent himself to become more of a power hitter during the pandemic-canceled 2020, he's particularly proud of one number.
"If I'm being completely honest — this might be boring — but my batting average," said McCarthy, who finished at .283 and was as high as .295 as recently as Oct. 2. That higher batting average cut down on his strikeouts and led to him being on base more, where he could change a game with his speed.
The Times-Tribune talked with McCarthy about what went right during a season where, in a Diamondbacks outfield loaded with young, athletic talent, he managed to stand out.
With the batting average, heading into the 2021 season, were you at that point going to be OK if you're hitting .230 but you have 20 home runs? Because you seemed to be on board with trying to become that player. I wouldn't say totally on board. I just think when the 2020 situation happened with no minor league season and I didn't go to the alt site, I spoke to some guys in our org and they told me that one of the knocks on me was I didn't necessarily impact the ball enough. I didn't drive it enough. And I kind of took it personally. I wanted to show that, yes, I'm a contact hitter, I'm pretty good defensively. But I always wanted to be a guy who was well rounded at the plate. I wasn't just slapping the ball back side. Maybe not necessarily hit home runs, but I could hit the ball in the gap. I could drive it. So, that was my main focus from 2020 to even last year, and it certainly helped me get to the big leagues, but I think homing in on just that, I kind of got away from things that I did well in the past, specifically college, where I didn't really strike out a lot. I didn't really chase outside the zone. So, it's kind of been nice to maybe get back a little closer to maybe what I've been more used to in my career, considering high school and college and early professional baseball.
Did you start to get bothered by the strikeouts? No, but I will say, being able to impact the game on the base paths, there would be times where I would fail to put the ball in play or just not have a competitive at-bat, and just think to myself, I could've made it a little harder on the defense or the pitcher using my speed. And I've been able to do that better this year, and I feel like I've been rewarded more with maybe some infield hits or some ground balls or line drives that just get past infielders. In today's game, it almost seems overlooked, but I do feel like there is value in making the defense make a play, and not just walking back to the dugout with three strikes.
So did you change the swing again to get back into this mindset? No, honestly I don't even think about mechanics really, at least this point in the season. I'm not going back and watching myself swing and saying oh, this needs to be different. I'm moreso focused on making sure I'm recognizing the pitch, because it's obviously the big leagues, these guys have good stuff. And I just feel if I can put my barrel on the baseball four or five at-bats a night, and try to swing at strikes and do my best to lay off really good offspeed, I think I'll be in a good spot. So, I'm not necessarily targeting "I want to hit the ball back side," or "I want to hit it on the ground," or "In this situation, I want to hit it in the air." I'm moreso just trying to take good passes at the ball, but also under control to the point where I'm putting the ball in play as much as I can. And that's not settling for weak dribbling ground balls, but I do feel like my game, I help the team the most if I'm putting the ball in play as much as possible.
Has that just come from experience? Yes, it's definitely experience. Because everyone talks about power and driving the ball, and launch angle. That's hard to do when you're struggling to even put the ball in play. It's almost like trying to run before you can walk or crawl. It's getting ahead of yourself. I just try to home in on if I could see a good breaking ball, and see it deep, or a fastball on the black and I can even foul it off, or manage to hit a hard ground ball or line drive, I found value in that. Because if I can get on base, I can steal second, especially if a guy like Christian Walker is hitting behind me, the game can change very quickly if we're in a one- or two-run game. So, I've definitely tried to think of it moreso, too, like not me individually, but how does getting on base help our team?
I don't know if you pay attention to it, but in terms of WAR, you had an outstanding season. Is this who you want to be? Or are there areas where you still think I can be a lot better at this? Not to sound cliché, but I think I can get better at just about everything that I'm doing right now. I think I can have more consistent at-bats. I think I can get better defensively. I just think the more experience you gain at this level, I think, I hope it will continue to slow down for me. You brought up the WAR thing — I don't really pay attention to it, but I think we all kind of strive to be well-rounded players. And I like to take pride in, OK maybe I didn't have the best night at the plate tonight, but I worked a walk and then I stole a base, or I had a dirt-ball read, or I got in scoring position for a guy, or I went first to third on a groundball to the outfield. At this level, it's not much between winning and losing a game. There's no nights off. Every pitcher's pretty tough. Every team is tough to face. I think that's kind of our identity, too. You've seen other guys like Alek Thomas and Corbin Carroll or Dalton Varsho who have kind of done the same, and it's kind of becoming our identity. And I think it's a fun brand of baseball. I just try to contribute to that.
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