Carroll hoping to join Yankees' youth movement

Cody Carroll remembers the five minutes that changed his life a few summers ago.
"I don't think I talked to the Yankees once," he said. "I had some teams calling me before the Draft, but nothing came through until five minutes before I got selected."
Carroll, who dealt with a string of season-ending injuries in both high school and college, finally heard his phone ring. It was June 10, the third day of the 2015 Draft.

"The Yankees called me and said they were going to take me with their 22nd-round pick. I was like, 'Great, perfect,'" Carroll said with a laugh. "It happened all in five minutes -- it was crazy."
Three years later, Carroll, who just turned 25, finds himself with Scottsdale in the Arizona Fall League. A converted reliever, the Yankees' No. 25 prospect said he's focused on refining his pitches and improving his command ahead of his fourth Minor League season.
"It's been good. I'm playing baseball, so I can't complain about it," the 6-foot-5 right-hander said. "I'm trying to work on improving overall command of all pitches and to continue to develop my splitter."
Carroll shapes up as an intriguing bullpen option for New York, perhaps as early as 2018 -- he features a fastball that can reach 100 mph and three off-speed pitches to complement it, with a heavy curve and slider a bit more established than his splitter. Drafted as a starter, Carroll is being groomed as a closer in the Minors and Arizona, where he's struck out 11 and walked four with three saves in seven innings over his first four AFL outings.

Cody Carroll was 1-0 with a 2.25 ERA in 13 games at Tampa before moving to Trenton in May. (Mark LoMoglio/MiLB.com)
The Tennessee native has come a long way since he blew out his right elbow in high school and missed his senior season. He endured two more rough years at Southern Mississippi, where injuries made him question his potential and future.
"There was a lot of hard work, to be honest," he said. "Lots of rehab and early days at the gym and training room, there by yourself. You kind of doubt it every now and then. 'What if I don't come back the same as I was?' But you just gotta wake up every day and it's a new day to get back to where you were and, in the long run, hopefully get better."
Carroll recovered and impressed as a junior in 2015, prompting the Yankees to give him a $70,000 signing bonus in the 22nd round. He was a South Atlantic League All-Star with Class A Charleston last year and earned Florida State League All-Star honors in 2017 with Class A Advanced Tampa. He made his Double-A debut on May 27.
It didn't come without some struggles, though. He was 7-of-12 in save opportunities this year and walked 30 batters in 39 outings. He finished the season 3-5 with a 2.54 ERA and 89 strikeouts in 67 1/3 frames, holding batters to a .191 average.
"I think [in the AFL] the plan is to close," he said. "Back in Trenton I struggled a little bit. It's a different mind-set -- you have to have the mind-set that nobody is gonna touch you. That's your time, they're trusting you to finish a game and win the game. You have to hold a lead or keep them in a game if you're down a couple. But definitely the ninth inning, I had a few struggles. The first save I got was bases-loaded, one out and I got out of it. That was the outing that pushed me through that door."

Carroll, who made six starts in 2016, said he doesn't miss the rotation or the mental drain it can carry.
"I honestly don't. I love the bullpen," he said. "I love being able to get two or three outings a week. You don't have to have that long of a memory. With starting, it was 'Oh, I had a bad start, I have to wait five days for another.' In college, you had seven days. It's a long time to sit there and think about one start. In the bullpen, you're right back out there."
Carroll works off his fastball, a pitch he added velocity to after moving to the bullpen. He said he trained harder and saw results.
"It comes from training your body to be able to throw harder. Weights, taking care of your shoulder and elbow and all that," he said. "I'm still a big fastball guy, it's still my favorite pitch to throw. But the thing I need to most improve on is the splitter. I'm still working on a slider that I'm able to throw in any count when I want, when most guys are thinking it's a fastball count. To have that extra wrinkle throws them off."
Carroll said he plans to head back to Tennessee after the AFL season wraps up. He's getting married in December, visiting Cancun for his honeymoon and then getting back to work ahead of Spring Training. He said he's excited about potentially joining the Yankees' surge of youth in the Bronx, but he needs to improve his command first.
"It's great to see all the guys who've moved up. This is only my second full season with the Yankees, but the movement has been crazy. People are going up and we're seeing guys going from high-A to the bigs. Everyone is constantly moving, so that's great to see," he said. "But I think for me, I need to continue to work on command of all pitches -- that's a huge thing. You make mistakes up there, they'll be magnified compared to the Minor Leagues."
For now, he'll will head into camp next spring with a good chance at fighting for a roster spot.
"I need to work on fastball command a little bit, keeping the sharpness of the slider and not trying to get underneath it or around it too much," he said. "And I'm working on the development of the splitter. I think it'll play well, especially to have another pitch to lefties."