Astros Make It Official, Sign Carlos Correa

The Astros held a 3:30pm CST press conference to announce the signing of the number one overall pick in the 2012 MLB Draft, Carlos Correa. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, however, Moisekapenda Bower of Fox Sports Houston reported earlier todaythat Correa will sign for $5.135 mil. That is roughly $2 mil less than the slotted amount of $7.2 mil allotted to the first overall pick. Those savings will pay huge dividends that I will get to after the jump. After being selected first-overall, Correa becomes the highest-drafted Puerto Rican ever.

Correa arrived in Houston earlier today and officially signed his contract to become a member of the Houston Astros a few hours ago. He is scheduled to graduate from high school this Sunday, June 11 and will then report to extended spring training in Kissimmee, FL on Tuesday, June 13 before finally being sent to the GSL Astros. He immediately becomes the Astros top prospect and a top ten prospect in all of MLB. During the press conference, Astros GM Jeff Luhnow had the following to say:

“We’re absolutely thrilled to have him as a part of our organization. This is a monumental day for us and for him and for the city of Houston.”

Having already drawn comparisons to current MLB players Alex Rodriguez and Troy Tulowitzki, Correa had this to say:

“I’m just happy to be an Astro right now. I just want to get to the big league level the quickest I can. I want to be a leader and I want to be the face of the franchise. I will work hard to be an impact player. For Puerto Rico, this is big. This is history. For a Puerto Rican player to go in the first pick, I feel proud to be here. All the hard work has paid off and I’m proud to represent the Houston Astros. I’m going to do it with honor and I’m going to make the Houston Astros a better organization.”

Correa also stated that he chose number twelve for two reasons. First, he chose it in homage to his fellow Puerto Rican and Hall of Fame 2B, Roberto Alomar. He also stated that he liked the number 12 due to the fact he was drafted in 2012. After the press conference, Correa headed to the field to take batting practice and ground balls with the big league team. He actually broke his bat on one of his swings!

The roughly $2 mil savings from his deal will pay immediate dividends. The Astros can now go over slot for both RHP Lance McCullers Jr. (Supplemental 1st round pick, 41st overall) and 3B Rio Ruiz (4th round pick, 129th overall). Both draftees are represented by Scott Boras and both were considered top 20 talents in the draft but fell due to sign-ability concerns. McCullers has a commitment to play baseball at the University of Florida while Ruiz has one at USC. I am pretty confident that both will be signed. The one player I am hoping we can sign as well is LHP Hunter Virant (12th round pick , 339th overall). Virant is a very highly touted high school lefty that was also considered a tough sign as he already has a commitment to UCLA. Jim Callis of Baseball America held his weekly chat today and when asked about the Astros draft, he called it arguably the best draft of the year and expressed optimism that the Astros could sign all of their top picks, including Virant. Here’s hoping so!

 UPDATE: Per Zachary Levine of the Houston Chronicle, Correa has signed for $4.8 mil, saving the Astros $2.4 mil from the slot to use on other picks.