Carlos Correa brings spark to Astros, but production questions remain

New York Times

2 days ago

BOSTON — Carlos Correa's second chapter as a Houston Astro started in earnest during the seventh inning of Friday night's game at Fenway Park. The Boston Red Sox trailed by one, but runners stood at first and second base with no outs. Right-handed hitting catcher Carlos Narváez entered the batter's box and squared to bunt.
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Few plays will provide a bigger challenge for Correa, the Platinum Glove shortstop playing a new position. Transitioning to third base is something Correa has considered for the past two seasons. Doing so during a pennant race is dangerous, but after re-acquiring their franchise cornerstone on Thursday, it is the Astros' current reality.
'They don't hand out Platinum Gloves,' utilityman Mauricio Dubón said with a smile. 'He's going to be fine.'
The sentiment encapsulates so much of Correa's return to a place he once reigned. He is back in a clubhouse, it seems he never left, conversing with old friends while forming a rapport with those he didn't know.
Correa's mere presence has uplifted a clubhouse in search of a spark. Three hours after reuniting with him, Jose Altuve said Correa is 'going to be our leader.' Manager Joe Espada soon marveled that 'the dynamic in there is completely different right now.'
Vibes are appreciated, but production wins pennants. How much of it Correa can contribute is a legitimate question. Correa remains one of baseball's savviest players, but on statistics alone, this is not the same shortstop that once secured two separate $300 million contracts in one offseason.
Correa comes back to Houston as a third baseman toting below-average offensive numbers, two facts that make the next three years of his contract fascinating.
According to Baseball Savant, Correa finished his 450-game Minnesota Twins tenure worth 10.4 wins above replacement. He accrued 11.7 during the first 252 games of his major-league career alone.
Correa finished 2023 with an OPS+ six points below league average. Before the trade on Thursday, he had one eight points worse than league average. Correa did make the American League All-Star team in 2024 with a .905 OPS, but played in just 86 games due to foot and oblique injuries.
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Those ailments have played a prominent role in his reduced production, but Correa still slashed just .267/.319/.386 while appearing in 93 of the Twins' first 108 games of this season.
Minnesota overhauled its entire major-league hitting staff this winter, something Correa acknowledged affected him during a dismal start to the season. Correa had just nine extra-base hits and worked seven walks across his first 115 plate appearances, anemia that is still reflected in his season-long counting stats.
'When you find yourself working with new people to try to get to the point where you want to be, it took me a little longer than I expected,' Correa said on Friday afternoon.
One day earlier, after waiving his no-trade clause, Correa texted longtime Astros hitting coach Alex Cintrón. The two men have remained close since Correa departed Houston in 2021.
Cintrón first celebrated Correa's comeback before writing him a lengthy message about what he saw with his swing mechanics. According to Cintrón, Correa responded by asking, 'Who told you that?'
'I said 'No one, that's me watching your swing,'' Cintrón said. 'He said, 'You're right on the spot. We're right on it. That's the same thing I've been working and thinking about. We're on the same page.''
'His swing right now looks really good. He's really tight in his upper body and hitting the ball hard.'
Any batted ball that carries an exit velocity of at least 95 mph is classified as 'hard hit' by Statcast. Correa finished July with a 63.2 percent hard-hit rate. It was 41.2 in April and 44.4 in June. Correa's average exit velocity jumped from 89.7 mph in June to 96.3 mph in July, a month in which he had the highest line drive rate and on-base percentage of his season.
Absent in all of this is slug. Correa has just seven home runs in 368 plate appearances this season. In 2023, the last season he took at least 550 plate appearances, Correa struck just 18 long balls. This is the same player who had at least 20 home runs in all but one of the seven 162-game seasons he played during his first tenure in Houston.
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Rediscovering his power is paramount. Correa believes familiarity 'will help a lot,' especially after the Twins' turnover.
'We've built a relationship for years now,' Correa said, 'even in the offseason, I've been around Cintrón a lot and he knows me very well. And so does (fellow hitting coach Troy Snitker).'
Finding power may pale in comparison to Correa's defensive challenge. He is among the most sure-handed shortstops in franchise history and still possesses one of the sport's strongest throwing arms. Sliding over a few feet to play third base may not seem like a seismic change.
'Some guys make it look easy, but it's not. It's extremely hard,' said Dubón, a utilityman with 49 career appearances at shortstop and 98 at third base.
'The angle is different. The arm, too, it's a longer throw and shorter reaction time, too. You have to grab it and throw it because it's a longer throw.'
Correa's arm is the least of anyone's concerns. If anything, team officials believe it will make the transition more seamless. Though his velocity dipped during the first part of this year, Correa has averaged at least 87.6 mph on his infield throws during each of the past five seasons. League average for both a shortstop and third baseman is 85.5 mph.
'The benefits of having that arm that he has, he can play farther back, (it) allows him to see the ball longer,' said Astros infield coach Tony Perezchica. 'A lot of it for him is just drop stepping, but he does that at short already. He catches everything on the left side. So that's going to be an easier transition.'
Realizing there is another defender standing to Correa's left, not right, will be among the most difficult adjustments. Dubón said he often worries about ranging too far and tipping a ground ball that shortstop Jeremy Peña might field cleanly.
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'(Correa is) aggressive. He's a shortstop. I'm aggressive. I'm going to go after balls. It's just about communication, but there's no shyness in our play,' Peña said on Friday. 'I know we're going to be on the same page and I know we're going to feed off each other.'
Most ground balls hit to shortstop are straight to the defender. Third basemen must deal with more top spin or movement on balls that could tail away. Batted balls arrive much quicker at third base, too, and reaction times must be quicker than anywhere else on the infield.
'His ability to reach and adjust on in-between hops, that's something he's done very well at shortstop. That transition at third base, he can make that adjustment quickly,' said Espada, who watched Correa play third base for Team Puerto Rico during the 2017 World Baseball Classic.
'For me, it's the bunts, the slow rollers, the barehand plays. He's done it at short, but he's going to be asked to do that more often.'
Pregame work will help Correa get more acclimated, but nothing can mimic the unpredictability of a major-league game. Friday underscored it. Narváez's bunt traveled three feet before Correa scooped it with his glove.
Correa completed the glove-to-hand transition while still on the run. The throw he fired to first baseman Christian Walker felt reminiscent of so many before, even if it came from an unfamiliar place.
'He's a tremendous talent,' Perezchica said. 'He catches the ball and it's right over the top, throwing about 100 mph over to first base. That impresses me day in and day out.'