Jake McCarthy’s first season in Colorado has turned into a full-blown rebound.
The outfielder, who came into pro ball as a highly regarded 2018 draft pick out of the University of Virginia, is suddenly looking like the player the Diamondbacks hoped they were getting when they took him 39th overall. Back then, Arizona valued the whole package: speed, defense, and enough offensive upside to dream on.
The Diamondbacks doubled down on the outfield that draft, grabbing Alek Thomas in round two out of Mt. Carmel High School in Illinois. McCarthy reached the majors first in 2021, with Thomas following in 2022, and both eventually became important parts of Arizona’s outfield picture.
That pairing didn’t last the way the organization probably expected. McCarthy was moved to Colorado over the offseason, while Thomas got off to a rough start in 2026, hitting just .181 with a .562 OPS. Arizona designated him for assignment in early May, then sent him to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Even though both players were under club control through the 2028 season, the Diamondbacks’ outfield vision ended earlier than planned. McCarthy gave them a bit more offense than Thomas, but neither delivered the production the team was counting on.
Now McCarthy is the one thriving.
He’s been on a hot streak lately, and that surge has carried over into what has already been a strong first half in his first year with the Rockies. On July 3 against the San Francisco Giants, he did something no player in MLB history had ever done in the same game: hit a leadoff home run, a grand slam, and steal a base. He finished with four hits and six RBIs.
Jake McCarthy takes Logan Webb deep to leadoff the game!
He’s homered in back-to-back games to raise his OPS to .846 💪 pic.twitter.com/E4Dm3yte55
- Just Baseball (@JustBB_Media) July 4, 2026
McCarthy’s turnaround has been a big reason Colorado’s offense has taken off. The Rockies are somehow sitting in the top 10 in batting average, on-base percentage, OPS, and runs scored, while ranking around the middle of the pack in home runs and stolen bases.
In Other News...
Rockies Fans Just Got A New Verdict On Recent First-Round Picks
The Rockies recent first-round draft history has become its own little audit, and the latest review offers a clearer picture of where the organization stands after years of trying to build from the top of the board. Charlie Condon sits at the head of the list, with his rise through Triple-A making him the current standard-bearer for Colorados next wave, while Chase Dollander still carries the kind of upside that can reshape a rotation if the development keeps moving in the right direction.
Ethan Holliday adds another layer to that optimism as a young shortstop with real franchise-cornerstone appeal, and Gabriel Hughes has already shown what a return from Tommy John surgery can look like when the stuff and command start to come back together. Brendan Rodgers rounds out the group as the most established big leaguer of the bunch, a reminder that even amid all the prospect projection, Colorado has already gotten a respectable return from this stretch of first-round picks. [Read more 🡒]
Rockies Face A Huge Draft Test After Years Of First Round Frustration
As the MLB Draft approaches, the Rockies are again trying to turn a long-running organizational weakness into something sturdier. General manager Josh Byrnes and president of baseball operations Paul DePodesta have spent time laying out a clearer philosophy for the selection process, one built around scoring runs, identifying the best player available and backing that approach with stronger data models and a more unified internal vision.
The challenge, of course, is that Colorados draft board is never quite the same as everyone elses. Pitching at altitude remains a special case in Denver, and the club is digging into why some arms translate there while others do not. Recent draft history also gives the front office plenty to weigh, with only Gabriel Hughes on the active roster among the teams recent first-rounders while Chase Dollander is coming back from Tommy John surgery and Jordan Beck and Sterlin Thompson are still in Triple-A. [Read more 🡒]