Astros: Carlos Correa will be given the weekend off to get right

The Astros are trying to get Carlos Correa healthy before October begins.

It’s the weekend, and we are ready for the final home series of the season versus the Angels in 2018. From then on, they won’t play at Minute Maid Park again until Game 1 of the ALDS, hopefully. We don’t want any part of a Wild Card game. The Astros are ready to defend the AL West from the Athletics, but they will without their starting shortstop. Last night, the Astros won 11-3 over the Los Angeles Angels without Carlos Correa.

Correa will sit out the entire weekend because of what many people have suspected, his back is not right. Most Astros fans have an instinct to protect Correa when people say that he sucks. Most of the time, people are right to defend him. However, right now he is not able to swing the bat consistently because of his back soreness. As good as he was last year, he doesn’t look right.

According to Baseball-Reference, Correa had an okay start to the 2018 season. He batted .268 with 13 homers and 49 RBI while adding a decent .823 OPS. Though he was near the top of the voting for the starting AL catcher, he was on the DL with back pain. He’s batting .238 with 14 homers and 62 RBI on the season. Since he returned in August, he hasn’t been the same, only batting .174 with one homer and 13 RBI. While that could indicate a slump, but his OPS tells a different tale.

His .480 OPS in the second half is much lower than his career .832 OPS. His slugging was almost non-existent as he was still hampered by the back injury. He didn’t have the torque in his swing with his back holding him back. The Astros decided to rest Correa for the weekend series versus the Angels, trying to rest him and get him ready for October.

Correa also mentioned that he is dealing with an oblique injury as well as the back injury via Danny Mata. Really? We need his back in the lineup healthy come October. Otherwise, we could see a lot of Alex Bregman and Marwin Gonzalez at shortstop. This would lead to an increased postseason role for Tony Kemp. But let’s climb that mountain when we have to, but it’s nice to have the depth the Astros do.

Correa via Mark Berman’s video, “I want to make sure I’m ready to go for the playoffs. I had to sit this series to feel better hopefully…If I’m healthy I know the kind of player I can be.” You have to admire his honesty, but it is also concerning that his back is still not better. Jake Kaplan says the team feels like he will be back in the lineup next week. As I wrote earlier, Correa is crucial to their playoff hopes.