Diamondbacks trade Jake McCarthy, swapping outfield depth for pitching
The Diamondbacks traded Jake McCarthy to the Colorado Rockies on Saturday, Jan. 10, cutting ties with one of their longtime outfielders in exchange for mid-tier pitching prospect.
In return, the club received right-hander Josh Grosz, a starting pitcher with a mid-90s fastball who logged a 4.67 ERA in 125 innings at High-A last season.
McCarthy departs with an up-and-down track record from parts of five big-league seasons. He performed well at the plate in 2022 and 2024, but struggled mightily in 2023 and 2025, leading to demotions to the minors in each of those seasons.
Since the start of the offseason, club officials had expected to part ways with either McCarthy or center fielder Alek Thomas to pave the way for other young outfielders to get opportunities.
General manager Mike Hazen said the Diamondbacks could have held on to both outfielders for longer, perhaps even taking them into spring training, but explained that they felt the opportunity to get back a pitcher they liked was too good to overlook.
Hazen seemed to indicate that interest was relatively light for both outfielders, saying he did not believe either was going to fetch a major league reliever via trade.
Hazen said maintaining a flexible 40-man roster was a big part of the deal. McCarthy being out of minor league options seemed to be a factor.
“With the out-of-options guys we have coming into camp, the amount of outfielders we have, we felt like this was a spot of getting value for Jake,” Hazen said.
The Diamondbacks’ outfield appears uncertain at the moment, outside of right fielder Corbin Carroll . Thomas figures to get opportunities in center field against right-handed pitching, but Blaze Alexander , Tim Tawa , Jorge Barrosa and perhaps even Jordan Lawlar could be options there, as well.
Left field will belong to Lourdes Gurriel Jr. once he returns from knee surgery, but that might not be until midseason. Hazen did not rule out the possibility of one of his prospects getting a chance to break camp in a starting outfield role with the big-league team. Though he didn’t name names, he likely was referring to Ryan Waldschmidt, the club’s top prospect who posted strong numbers at High-A and Double-A last season.
As for Grosz, Hazen said he is trying to stockpile as many young arms as possible in hopes of developing future big-league options. Grosz averaged 94 mph with his fastball last season, topping at 97, while also throwing a change-up, slider and curveball.
“We're going to try to look at his arsenal and find ways to maximize it as best we can,” Hazen said. “These are some of the things that, bringing (assistant general manager) Jeremy Bleich on board, these are the types of bets that I'm looking to take in terms of giving him guys to kind of work with and build with.”
Grosz was an 11th-round pick by the New York Yankees in 2023 out of East Carolina. He was traded to the Rockies in July as part of the Ryan McMahon deal.
(This story has been updated to add new information.)
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Diamondbacks trade Jake McCarthy for Rockies pitcher Josh Grosz
