As if the Houston Astros season wasn’t already exciting enough, it just got better. 2012 first overall draft pick Carlos Correa is heading to the big leagues.
Houston, we have a prospect! The @astros call up top prospect SS Carlos Correa, the No. 1 pick of the 2012 #MLBDraft. pic.twitter.com/rS4iLapPFv
— Stadium (@Stadium) June 8, 2015
Correa joins Kris Bryant (No. 1), Addison Russell (No. 5), Noah Syndergaard (No. 10), Carlos Rodon (No. 11) and Joey Gallo (No. 16) as preseason Grading on the Curve Top 50 prospects to already make their MLB debut before the trade deadline. 2015 has been somewhat the year of the rookie, with names like Joc Pederson slugging away in Los Angeles and Aaron Sanchez coming around in Toronto along with the other five names already mentioned. Correa hopes to add his own solid numbers to the mix.
"“Carlos has performed extremely well at every level of our Minor League system,” Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow told Tyler Maun of MiLB.com. “We feel he has earned this promotion and look forward to him joining our ball club. Since he is just 20 years old, we do not have unrealistic expectations of Carlos. However, his performance on the field and his maturity indicate that he is ready to contribute on the Major League level.”"
The Astros, who are off to a surprisingly fast start, sit at 34-24. They are not only atop the AL West two months into the season, but have the best record in the American League altogether.
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When the season began, veteran Jed Lowrie was having a fantastic start to the season, slashing .300/.432/.567 with four home runs and 10 RBI. He then injured his finger and required surgery that would keep him out until at least after the All Star Break. The Astros kept chugging along, but have come upon a four game losing streak. Now that the Super 2 deadline and service clock have expired, the Astros hope that Correa can be the spark that gets them back on track.
“I’m ready for that level,” Correa was cited as saying on MiLB.com. “I feel like I’ve been ready. But it’s important to be patient. I’m ready to help the Astros win.”
Correa has spent time at two levels for the Astros this year. At Double-A Corpus Christi he slashed .385/.459/.726 with 7 home runs, 32 RBI and 15 stolen bases. He would win the Texas League Player of the Week and be promoted to Fresno in Triple-A the very same day. At Fresno he slashed a pedestrian .276/.345/.449 with 3 home runs and 12 RBI. Yesterday, he hit the walk off sacrifice fly. That very night he was heading to Houston.
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There is very little risk in the move, and based on how this current wave of top prospects have performed in 2015, Astros fans should be overly optimistic. MLB Pipeline grades Correa out at an overall 70 (on a scale of 20 to 80), with a 70 in hitting and a 70 arm. There are rarely can’t-miss prospects these days, but Correa is one of them.
Should Correa prove to need more seasoning in the minors — which this author thinks he won’t — he simply gets a one month audition, and Jed Lowrie returns. Lowrie can jump back in the lineup and the Astros won’t miss a beat. Should Correa succeed, he will join fellow 2012 draft members Preston Tucker and Lance McCullers as part of the greatest reformation projects in MLB history.
This is the stuff baseball dreams are made of. We got to enjoy it last year after the Kansas City Royals watched their elite draft picks finally mature and make a World Series together. Is this the year the Astros do the same?