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Carlos Correa to AAA: What’s Next Step for Astros?

By Eric Huysman

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Around 2pm central time, it was reported by multiple sources that the Astros have promoted top prospect Carlos Correa to Triple-A. While many fans wanted Correa’s next destination to be Houston, Fresno is a good destination for Correa, versus staying in Double-A. Does Correa wish that he would have made his debut with the Astros tomorrow versus the Fresno Grizzlies? Below is a snippet from my interview with him from last Friday.

"“That is up to the Astros, wherever they want me I will play baseball to the best of my ability. If they keep me in Corpus Christi, I will try to win a championship with them. If the Astros want me in Fresno, I will try to win the championship there. If I am on the Astros this year, I will try to win the championship with them. I just want to play baseball, the where is not up to me.”-Correa."

Does it matter to Correa? If you read his quote above, it just appears he likes to play baseball wherever he is. You have to imagine though, as competitive as he is, that he wanted to be one of the players who make it to the majors at a young age. “You work your entire life to get at some point to the big leagues. To get one step closer means a lot,” Carlos Correa said via Jose de Jesus Ortiz.

“You work your entire life to get at some point to the big leagues. To get one step closer means a lot,” Carlos Correa said.

— Jose de Jesus Ortiz (@OrtizKicks) May 11, 2015

The youngest Astros player to debut in a season recently was Domingo Santana, who made his debut last year at the age of 21.330 according to Baseball-Reference. Jose Altuve made his debut with the Astros at 21.075 years old in 2011. Correa is currently 20.321 years old, so to debut before Jose Altuve’s debut age would mean something. Let’s hope they don’t wait till Correa is 21-years-old late September.

“I have to say it is (tempting),” Luhnow said about promoting Correa to the majors. “It’s something we will continue to think about,” — Jose de Jesus Ortiz (@OrtizKicks) May 11, 2015

The good news about the above Tweet is that the Astros are at least tempted to promote Correa. Which means that his stay in Triple-A could be short, sorry about that Grizzly fans, you still have Alex Presley. The Astros right now with the Jed Lowrie injury, are desperate for some production from the shortstop position. Let’s compare Correa’s numbers with Marwin Gonzalez‘s and Jonathan Villar‘s numbers in 2015.

H

R

2b

3b

HR

RBI

SB

Avg

OPS

Carlos Correa (AA)

45

25

15

2

7

32

15

0.385

1.185

Marwin Gonzalez

167701800.2420.648Jonathan Villar63000130.182

0.432

As you can tell, the Astros are getting zero production at shortstop, and when I say zero, I mean Villar’s zero extra base hits. Marwin is playing an ok shortstop, but his value is best as a backup player. I know there is a chance that Correa will come up and not produce Domingo Santana style, but some GMs would have promoted Correa after Lowrie’s injury as in Evan Drellich’s Tweet below.

FWIW: one GM told me he “probably” would have promoted Carlos Correa the day Jed Lowrie was hurt. Noted those moves don’t always work though

— Evan Drellich (@EvanDrellich) May 9, 2015

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What are the Astros waiting for? They could be waiting for the super two deadline mid-June, to buy them longer control of Correa. While I understand this, the Astros are now in contention with them being first in the AL West. This season could be a chance to make the postseason, but they are not fielding their best team considering the lack of production at short. The Astros have a need, but they are letting future control possibly hold them out of contention this year.

The Astros are 2-5 since winning 10 in a row and are hitting .153 as a team during that span, averaging 2.1 runs per game.

— Brian McTaggart ⚾️ (@brianmctaggart) May 10, 2015

One of the AL West teams will go on a run soon, and the Astros need to build a big lead to withstand the surging Angels or Mariners at some point. According to McTaggart’s Tweet from above; “The Astros are 2-5 since winning 10 in a row and are hitting .153 as a team during that span, averaging 2.1 runs per game.” They did split the Angels series but were swept by the Rangers. They have to continue building the lead, but recently they are letting the field catch up.

When will Correa make the big leagues? I asked the writers of CTH after the Correa to Triple-A news broke, let’s look at their responses.

Jason Burke @BaseballMiAmor – They’re just waiting until Super 2 day. Unless he struggles, June.

Brian del Castillo @BabyBullDC – June!!!

Andy Podillo @AndyYSR – With injuries: August 1. With no infield injuries: Opening Day 2016.

Jeff Haddon @JeffnRoundRock – I want to say July, but I’m going it’s April 2016. And I hope I am wrong.

Andrew Sanders @sandersandrew – Looking for comparisons – Kris Bryant had two years in AAA. I’ll hope for August, but Jeff could well be right there.

Thomas O’Banion @obaniont – August 1.

I’m going to go with Jason, not because he’s the lead editor for CTH, but because I agree that Correa’s stay at Triple-A will be short. Especially if the Astros start losing, there will be an outcry by fans to promote Correa. Astros fans have to temper expectations when Correa arrives because he may struggle at first. But knowing the competitor that he is, he will not struggle for a long time. Let’s hope that we don’t have to wait long to see his debut.

Jason wrote of a potential Correa timeline here.

Kennon writes a letter to Luhnow to promote Correa here.

Next: Carlos Correa Interview with CTH

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