Is Carlos Correa nearing his debut for the Houston Astros?
This is the week the Houston Astros and their fans have been waiting for. No. I’m not talking about having two picks in the Top 5 of the MLB Draft on Monday. I’m talking about the impending arrival of a top prospect, Carlos Correa. No, we are not sure he is coming up, but I wanted to give you some thoughts as to why he could debut this week.
The Astros find themselves in the middle of pennant drive earlier than anyone anticipated. That, combined with Correa’s excellent statistics in the minors have seemingly sped up the 20-year old’s arrival to the big club. At the time of this piece, Correa is batting a combined .332 with a .404 OBP and a .602 Slugging percentage in 211 at-bats at Corpus Christi and Fresno.
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He has 21 doubles, 10 home runs, 43 RBI and 18 stolen bases all while playing solid shortstop. All of these numbers have made Correa, arguably, the best prospect in all of baseball.
As we all know, baseball is a business. It has been speculated by this writer that the only reason Correa has remained in the minors this long is to make sure that he does not qualify for “Super Two” status.
This is a term from the current collective bargaining agreement, which refers to a player’s salary-arbitration status. If a player has more than two years of experience and ranks in the top 22 percent of players with service time, then that will player will be arbitration eligible after that second year instead of the third year.
In the article linked in the above tweet, Jose de Jesus Ortiz hints that Correa could be up as soon as the White Sox series, but does not come out and give a definitive answer.
Waiting for this time to pass obviously saves the club potentially millions of dollars with a player of Correa’s talent. While no one knows the exact date, most people believe that waiting for a mid-June date to call up top prospects is the safest bet. Well, the Astros start a new home stand against the Seattle Mariners on Friday, June 12.
This coming Friday should allow Astros management to feel safe enough regarding the passing of the “Super Two” to bring Correa to the majors. Houston returns home from a road trip that has seen their offense stagnate in Toronto and plays an inter-division rival.
The Astros have a day off Thursday allowing Carlos Correa a day to become acclimated in Houston and the clubhouse, and there would be time for the club to make an announcement so that fans could purchase tickets.
All of this makes June 12, a day to be at Minute Maid Park for some early summer fireworks, as it is also the Astros Friday Night Fireworks promotion and gym bag giveaway. It is always fun to say you saw a player’s major league debut. Well, if you are one of the many Astros fans that have been waiting for Mr. Correa’s debut, I believe this coming Friday is the night. However with Jeff Luhnow, we never know.
It is finally Carlos Correa time!