How is Carlos Correa learning to play third base? By studying the league's best

New York Times

8 hours ago

Carlos Correa is a baseball connoisseur. Conversations with him often include offhand mentions of advanced metrics or other minutiae he's gleaned from watching players across the league. Baseball's best third basemen stay low before a pitch is released, Correa has learned, allowing them ample time to gauge a ground ball's trajectory.
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'At shortstop,' Correa explained last week, 'you have to stand taller because you have to move more.'
For two years, Correa sought a switch to third base. On the day he secured it, Correa opened YouTube and started studying. He searched for highlights of the three players who pass a Platinum Glover's eye test, those who will assist a lifelong shortstop in this long-awaited transition.
Nolan Arenado, Matt Chapman and Manny Machado 'look like they are the best at the position,' according to Correa. The 17 Gold Gloves and eight Platinum Gloves among them support the claim. Each stays low, snares everything in sight and has set a standard for third base defense during the modern era.
'When I look at them and the way they play, the way they attack the ball, the way they attack the angles, the way the arm slot is when they make the throws, it just looks right,' Correa said.
Correa looks right on the left side of any infield. He has won both a Gold Glove and Platinum Glove, but only as a shortstop, the position where he made each of his first 1,190 defensive starts as a major leaguer.
Reuniting with the Houston Astros fulfilled Correa's wishes to play third base, where less movement is required and injury risk can be diminished. That he arrived back in Houston worth minus-11 defensive runs saved as a shortstop this season can't be overlooked, either.
Correa will turn 31 in September and, if he converts the four options in his complicated contract, could remain with the Astros through his age-37 season. Longevity matters to Correa, especially after a myriad of injuries, including missing 76 games last year, during his Minnesota Twins tenure.
To learn the nuances of his new position, Correa is studying plays from each of Arenado's, Chapman's and Machado's Gold Glove seasons. He streams their highlights on YouTube during his downtime, such as the four flights he took during the 10-game trip Houston just completed. If the Cardinals, Giants or Padres are playing on an Astros off day or around their schedule, Correa will watch their third basemen on a team-issued iPad.
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'For me, it's about seeing how deep they play with slow runners, fast runners, double plays, infield in, guys that bunt, all that,' Correa said. 'Just analyzing all the little details so I can get more comfortable at the position.
'Those are obviously things I have to keep practicing before the games so in the games they feel natural. But by watching film, I can anticipate before plays happen what I will do depending on where the ball is going to be hit.'
Each of the three offers a different attribute for Correa to analyze. The accuracy of Arenado's throws, no matter where a play takes the six-time Platinum Glover, amazes Correa. So does an internal clock Correa called 'the best of anyone in the league.'
Machado's different arm angles are instructive for Correa, as is his uncanny ability to know pre-pitch where a ball may be hit, especially with runners on base.That Machado has also alternated between shortstop and third base is helpful, Correa said.
'I watch Chapman the most,' Correa said, a byproduct of seeing him so often while both played in the American League West. During his five seasons with the A's, Chapman stole more hits from Correa than he cares to remember.
'I'm flattered that he's watching my video and looking at things that I do. That's a compliment to me,' said Chapman, who called Correa 'one of the best infielders in the major leagues.
'For him, I don't really have any advice. He's such a good baseball player. Just trust his instincts. He has great instincts. I imagine it's going to be a pretty quick transition, easy transition for him.'
Without prompt, Chapman agreed with Correa's initial analysis that third basemen must get lower before a pitch is released. Correa's biggest adjustment, Chapman said, will be the angles he takes to ground balls and refining his pre-pitch positioning. Chapman himself is helping the transition.
'I watch his film and I analyze the depth that he plays at, I analyze pre-pitch movement, the different slots that he uses depending on where the ball is hit,' Correa said.
Correa isn't attempting to mimic any of the aforementioned third basemen. Doing so would be difficult — Correa, at 6-4, stands at least two inches taller than all of them and still has some habits that none of them display.
Some of Correa's routes, for example, have resembled those of a shortstop instead of a traditional third baseman. Shortstops make somewhat of a semicircle when approaching ground balls hit straight at them, creating an ideal angle to throw across the diamond. A straight-line path is more efficient for third basemen.
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'That's going to be more important when I take my reps during practice to make it more natural for me,' Correa said. 'For me, the super slow rollers — the tappers you have to go full-speed on and throw across your body — those are going to be the most difficult plays, especially when you have to go barehanded. I never went barehanded at shortstop.'
Correa never needed to. He fielded primarily with one hand as a shortstop, which Astros manager Joe Espada said will ease his transition to third base, where that is the norm. Correa's arm strength will allow the club to play him farther back, too, giving him more time to read ground balls coming quicker than ever before.
'His game presence and his game savvy will help him at third base,' said Astros infield coach Tony Perezchica. 'The ball is coming at him at a different rate, more of a top spin hooking away from him. At shortstop, you kind of get everything right at you a little bit more. Those are the things he just has to see. You can practice it all day, but he has to see it in a game.'
Correa is insistent on it. He arrived at loanDepot Park on Wednesday aware of a planned day off for Jeremy Peña, Houston's heir apparent to him at shortstop. Correa could've reprised his role in Peña's absence.as he did tb during his second game back in an Astros uniform.
Instead, for the sixth, Correa asked to remain at third base. He needs all the exposure possible, but that Correa even played at all is evidence that the benefits of this switch are beginning to emerge. The Miami Marlins' ballpark has artificial turf. Correa had not played three consecutive games on the surface in the past three years.
'You can look it up,' Correa said on Thursday. 'I always go two and (then) an off day because the turf is tough on me when I was a shortstop. Today, I feel fantastic after playing three days on turf.'
'I played six in a row, and I know I played one of those at shortstop, but I feel fresh. That's something I knew would happen when I made the move to third and I felt like it would give me more longevity in my career if I made that move sooner rather than later.'
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The Athletic's Andrew Baggarly contributed reporting to this story.
(Illustration: Demetrious Robinson / The Athletic; Photos: Houston Astros / Getty Images / Rich von Biberstein / Icon Sportswire via Associated Press / Thurman James / Cal Sport Media via Associated Press / Dustin Bradford / Icon Sportswire via Associated Press)
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