Astros plan on placing Carlos Correa on the DL tomorrow

Could Carlos Correa hitting the DL give Kyle Tucker a chance to make his debut with the Houston Astros?

We knew that Carlos Correa‘s back was hurting as he has sat out the last two games. The team thought that it wasn’t that big of a deal, but they rather be safe than sorry. According to Brian McTaggart, they will put him on the DL. Because of the last minute decision, the Astros will not make the move till tomorrow. With game time at 6:10 pm CT tonight, there was not enough time to get another player up. Especially with Fresno being across the country from Tampa Bay.

According to AJ Hinch via the video below, it was a good update on Correa as he continues to progress and feel better. However, they wanted to give him the time to get fully healthy to not have this injury linger. The Astros are in a stretch where they are playing some of the teams around .500 or lower. This is the perfect time to take advantage of the 10-day DL to get Correa back to health. Hinch hinted that he could return next weekend.

Meanwhile, who gets the call to replace him?

No one can replace what Correa can do, but they do have some options. With Marwin Gonzalez and Tyler White on the team, the replacement does not necessarily have to be a shortstop. Alex Bregman can also switch over from third base to play shortstop if they decide to go with J.D. Davis, as Jake Kaplan suggests.

White has played shortstop at times in Triple-A to increase his position flexibility to help the Astros. They have already recalled AJ Reed with Yuli Gurriel going on paternity leave, I’ll write about that in a while. So who is coming up, no announcement is made yet?

All eyes will be on the Fresno Grizzlies roster tonight. Because the move will not be made official until tomorrow, the player could technically still play tonight. There are 38 players on the 40-man roster, but none of the current options to be promoted are on the roster. Jack Mayfield has mostly played shortstop, is batting .266 with eight homers and driving in 33 runs. With Gonzalez on the roster, they could call up another position via Baseball-Reference. Tucker would need to be added to the 40-man roster.

Update: Davis was not in the Grizzlies starting lineup, so he is most likely the choice.

Time for Kyle Tucker?

Maybe this is the opportunity to bring up the Astros top hitting prospect, Kyle Tucker. After a slow start, Tucker is batting .315 with 12 homers and 60 RBI. In his last 10-games, Tucker is batting .476 with three homers and six RBI. Tucker offers some speed as well with 13 bases in 15 opportunities via Baseball-Reference.

If they bring up Tucker though, he is likely to stick and be the primary left-fielder. On this Astros roster, you can’t really call anyone outside of the top-4 hitters’ everyday players. We are past the Super 2 deadline, so they can call up Tucker at any point. With the secrecy over who is getting called up, maybe this could be the move.

We have to wait to know what the move is.

With Gonzalez shifting to shortstop, it opens time in left field and a platoon of White and Reed at first base. It is also fitting that the Astros are playing in Tampa, where Tucker grew up. This would be the perfect opportunity for Tucker to make his debut in front of family and friends tomorrow. You want to call up your top prospect when he is hot at the plate. This would be a perfect time on the road versus the Rays.

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They could fool us all and call up a reliever until Joe Smith returns. If it is Tucker, he would most likely stay up for good if he produces. If he struggles, this would be a good opportunity to see what he needs to work on in Triple-A. Should he hit, the Astros will find a way to keep him on the roster. It stinks that an injury to Correa could lead to his promotion. Let’s keep an eye out on the Grizzlies roster tonight. This is purely speculation, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it were Tucker.