Bored during the early days of the pandemic, Corbin Carroll, already one of the best prospects in baseball, enrolled in a full load of classes at Arizona State University. Learning, about almost anything really, had always appealed deeply to him, and by 2021, when a torn labrum ended his season with the Arizona Diamondbacks' High-A affiliate after seven games, Carroll found the perfect course to occupy his mind.
PHI 326, Philosophy of Happiness, engaged Carroll from the opening lecture. The class explores society's definition of happiness while encouraging students to find theirs. As he kept reading, Carroll found himself nodding along with the perspective of stoic philosophers, who nearly 2,500 years ago established an ideology built around virtue and selflessness.
"The thing I most identified with is that when you're chasing happiness, you're chasing a feeling," Carroll said. "You're chasing a state that's temporary. And if everything's always good, then nothing's good. That was a super interesting concept to me of how important those low moments are in creating those positives. Not getting attached to those waves. And at the end of the day, it's more about contentment of life and finding your life to be valuable."
If Carroll, now 22, does not sound like the typical Major League Baseball player, it's because he isn't. Carroll is the fastest player in the game, packs uncommon power into his 5-foot-10, 165-pound frame, plays a delightful outfield and has helped thrust the surprising Diamondbacks, with their go-go-go brand of pitch clock era baseball, to the top of the National League West standings.
As glorious as Carroll is to witness in a uniform, it was the classroom Carroll, wise beyond his years, that reinforced he was worth the $111 million over the next eight seasons Arizona guaranteed him with a contract extension this spring. Throughout the organization, the Diamondbacks revere Carroll and what he embodies -- and exude gratefulness that 15 teams passed on him in the 2019 draft. Locking up Carroll after only 38 days in the major leagues was a risk, but mostly insofar as every contract bears some. The upside, on the other hand, swells every day Carroll does Carroll things.