North Correa

 

Some people hit a wall at 30, some at 33, others at 27. Carlos Correa had an amazing year for the Twins back in 2022, and despite the murmurings that there was a medical issue, and the botched attempts by the Giants and Mets, the Twins re-signed him anyway. Since then he's done...alright.

I mean, the thing is, with a 1.5 WAR, Correa's the second-best performer on the Twins right now. But like...we know what he's capable of. We know what he did with the Astros. And this is not that, clearly. Defensively he's just not the same, and lacks a lot of the pop he had in Houston. Yes, age, but he's only 29. I know some 29-year-olds that are still very good defensively, or even some 32 year olds. Correa, maybe due to some of the medical stuff that deterred the Giants and Mets, just isn't the same shortstop anymore, and is only sort of an average one.

Thankfully he can still hit, though. Right now he's hitting .270 with 27 RBIs and 5 homers. This is...around his usual pace, and his career average is .272 so it's not terribly off base. But...there doesn't seem to be an exclamation point or anything with this stuff anymore. In like 2017 or whatever, when Correa got hot it felt noteworthy, he felt big. For a 6 year period he was one of the best players in the game. And now that he's been banged up a bit he's...not that. He's just an above-average bat, in a way that sort of fits with the Twins, but not even in the way that Kepler, Buxton, Jeffers and Carlos Santana are above-average bats at this point. There just doesn't seem like there's an x-factor with Correa this time. Even Jeremy Pena, who I've criticized as never really being challenged, is having a better year than Correa. And that's got to hurt.

To his credit, Correa's added a nice amount to this newly-surging Twins team, who've at least peaked above .500 again and are looking a lot better now that they don't have to play good teams anymore. Cause obviously the Yankees series didn't go well, but they have to play the Rockies and A's this week, so that'll go a lot better. Simeon Woods-Richardson and Jose Miranda are finally performing consistency in the majors, and Royce Lewis is FINALLY healthy again. Don't hold your breath, it may be like a John Means thing where it happens immediately after I post this. 

This is not a perfect team, much like this is not a perfect Carlos Correa performance, but they're getting by. There are worse teams in the majors, and there's teams with plenty less to work with. This team just needs to spark fire, like they did last year, if they want to be a match for Cleveland or Kansas City.

Coming Tomorrow- Another hurler the Reds' prospectors were thankfully right about.