Baseball’s Just a Way of Life for Daniel Carroll

“He’s got that ‘Never Give Up’ attitude. He lives by that ‘Quitters never win and winners never quit’ philosophy,” Carmela Carroll said of her son, Daniel Carroll. At 24 years old, Daniel has spent the last six years playing for affiliated teams of the Seattle Mariners Major League Baseball team. He was drafted by the Mariners at the age of 18, before he graduated from Valley View High School (VVHS), as the 105th pick in the 3rd round of the 2007 MLB June Amateur Draft. Due to injuries he has sustained in his years playing with the team, this year he was released from the Mariners team. “It was a surprise,” he said of the release. “They told me it was a huge numbers thing, and they didn’t want to release me,” said Daniel. But he’s not discouraged, he shared. Currently, he plays with the Lincoln Saltdogs, an independent baseball team based in Lincoln, Nebraska. “Independent ball is good for someone in my situation. I’m only 24, and I still feel that drive, and it’s still fun, and I want to play,” said Daniel, who shared that independent league baseball gives him, and other players, the opportunity to “play good competition and stay in shape.” This is a strategy that’s working for him, he noted. “A lot of teams will pick up players out of independent ball, especially guys they have liked in the past. This is better for me than just being at home and waiting,” said Daniel. “My sole focus is to stay healthy all year. I’ve got a little bit of power and I’ve been putting the ball in play. That’s the name of the game for me: to stay healthy and really take care of my body,” he said. Among his strengths, Daniel, who was introduced to the sport at age 4 when he started playing Tee ball, counts strength and speed. In the 2011 season when he played for the High Desert Mavericks, he hit 18 home runs and stole 62 bases. In the eyes of Daniel’s father, Bill Carroll, his son’s talent just comes naturally. “He took to it like a fish takes to water,” said Bill. “He loved it. When I’d take him to practice, he’d run out of the car. You couldn’t keep him away.” That drive and talent continued throughout his high school baseball career. The family remembers well the day they found Daniel was picked up by the Mariners. Family and friends gathered to watch the draft on the Internet, his mother Carmela shared. When Daniel’s older brother Ryan saw Daniel’s name come up for the draft, the family was ecstatic. “Ryan saw his name and he shouted it out. We were all excited. We were jumping up and down. We live down the street from an elementary school, and one of the teachers said she could hear us yelling,” she laughed. “We were all just jumping for joy. But then we stopped and we got on our knees and prayed, because that happened for him. That doesn’t happen for many.” Making the occasion even sweeter, shared Daniel and his family, was the fact that later that same evening he celebrated his high school baseball career at his final team banquet, and then spent the night at Disneyland for VVHS’s grad night. “That was a really exciting day,” said Bill. “It was awesome.” “Daniel has always been competitive and athletic,” said Carmela. “He’s a standout in our eyes as a son, as an athlete, and as a baseball player. With all his injuries, you’d think he’d get discouraged, but he keeps pressing on. He figures he just has to work that much harder.” When he’s not on the field, Daniel shared that he enjoys spending time with his friends, and especially his wife, Chelsea. The couple met at church when they were just 14 years old, and the two were married in February 2008. “She is amazing,” Daniel said. “She is such a rock and an encouragement. She is an amazing woman, and is more than I could ever ask for in a wife.” The feeling is mutual. “At 14 years old, I leaned over and told my friend that very night that I was going to marry that guy. I obviously wasn’t seriously thinking marriage at 14, but I saw a quality in Daniel that I was drawn to. His faith was undeniable,” said Chelsea of the night she first met Daniel. Daniel is the second of three children. He has an older brother, Ryan Carroll, who will be 26 next month and is married to his wife of one year, Carisa; and a 21-year-old sister, Meagan Carroll, who is engaged to Timothy Griffin, also a former Seattle Mariners-affiliate player who is currently pitching for the Québec Capitales, and was introduced to Meagan after playing baseball with Daniel. The two will be married in the coming fall. But no matter what happens, the family stays tight. “We’ve definitely experienced our share of hard times and disappointments in the game, whether it be through an injury or being sent down a level, but God has been faithful and our faith has gotten us through and has made us stronger,” said Chelsea. “Daniel is the strongest, most amazing, most persevering man I know. This game has knocked him down, but he has remained so strong. I admire him so much.”