The Houston Astros have had great success bringing up some of their top prospects so far this season in George Springer and Jon Singleton. The two young players have helped the Astros improve dramatically, having a better record thus far than they have in years.
The 24-year old Springer made his MLB debut on April 16. Since then he is hitting a decent .243 but that includes 13 home runs, ten of which he hit in the month of May. The outfielder also has 38 RBI since joining the team from Triple-A Oklahoma City where he batted .353 with three home runs with nine RBI in the first two weeks of the season.
Rookie first baseman Singleton, 22, got his call on June 3, 2014. He may only be batting .203 over the past three weeks but he has four home runs and 10 RBI. His batting average will undoubtedly improve as he accumulates more plate appearances.
Both rookies have incredible potential and should only improve. The Astros suffered a big blow on Saturday in the form of an injury to their number one prospect Carlos Correa. Correa, a 19-year old shortstop, was rated as one of the top ten prospects of 2014 by BaseballProspectus.com, MLB.com and Baseball America. He was batting .325 with six home runs and a staggering 57 RBI in just 62 games while playing for High Class-A Lancaster. According to MLB.com he was expected to be soon moved to Double-A Corpus Christi.
Correa was injured Saturday as Lancaster took on St. Elsinore. Correa sustained an apparently serious injury to his right leg sliding into third base. Josh Jackson of MiLB.com reported that the shortstop had to be carried off the field and carted into the clubhouse with a towel over his face.
First reports were that the injury was to Correa’s ankle but Cliff Saunders of Houston’s Sports Talk 790 tweeted,
Astros prospect Carlos Correa suffered a broken leg. Not what any Astros fan wanted to hear today. pic.twitter.com/yT3O523XLS
— Cliff Saunders (@radioguycliff) June 22, 2014
Jeff Luhnow, the Astros’ general manager, released a statement Sunday saying that Correa was seen at a local hospital and will travel back to Houston to be evaluated by their medical staff before a diagnosis is determined. The statement issued also said that Correa will miss significant time and will be immediately placed on the disabled list.
Correa was the number one pick in the 2012 First Year Player Draft and played a full year in 2013 at Class-A Quad Cities. He hit .320 with 33 doubles, nine home runs and 86 RBI at just 18 years old.
Luhnow did say that anytime missed this season will likely be able to be made up during Arizona Fall League play later this year depending upon the severity of the injury.