J.C. Correa has agreed to a deal as an undrafted free agent with the Houston Astros.
The Houston Astros have finally got their man in J.C. Correa. After selecting Correa the two previous years in the latter rounds of the MLB Draft, they are agreeing to a free-agent contract with him this year.
J.C. hit .332 in 2019 for Lamar University and was selected by the Astros in the 38th round of the draft. He returned to school to try and raise his draft stock and struggled a bit in the shortened season this year.
He failed to homer in 14 games and hit just .245 in the pandemic forced, abbreviated schedule.
J.C. Correa, younger brother of Astros star Carlos Correa, said he will sign with Astros on Thursday
— Brian McTaggart (@brianmctaggart) June 18, 2020
“I wanted to get my degree and now that I got my degree I will sign & play professional baseball. Now that I’m going to sign, my next goal is to make it to the big leagues."
J.C. will join the organization which drafted his older brother Carlos, first overall in the 2012 draft. Carlos quickly climbed the ladder in the Astros system, debuting as a twenty-year-old in 2015.
The younger Correa has played multiple positions on the infield and may project to be a quality major league player one day.
I find the timing of this signing to be a bit odd. Why wouldn’t J.C. return to Lamar and enhance his skills while bettering his draft position? If he equates to a quality prospect he would catch the eye of some of the other ball clubs.
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Carlos enters his final year of arbitration next season and there have been rumors swirling about him being traded away from Houston if the team is unwilling to extend him or even pay his arbitration figure.
The Astros payroll sits at $206M this year and they’ve committed $110M to just four players for 2021.
Houston has obviously had an eye out for J.C. for years, using a draft pick on him in two previous drafts. Maybe they were just doing a courtesy to one of their own by selecting a family member, which happens all the time.
One occurrence which comes to mind is when the Washington Nationals drafted Bryan Harper, brother of Bryce, in the 2011 draft.
The Astros might really have an interest in the younger Correa. Or possibly they are using this as some kind of bargaining ploy with his old brother.