September pressure? Correa doesn’t feel it
Who can carry the weight? Who will guide them? Who has the strength to lift up a franchise and take the Astros where they haven’t been in a decade?
We’ve been asking these questions since September began. The answer might have finally arrived Saturday, with the American League West on the line and the promise of the playoffs beginning to fade away.
There was a 403-foot solo shot that blasted past the Crawford Boxes and disappeared into the glare of afternoon sunlight. There was a 342-foot
rocket that left the bat with the same sharp “crack,” then fired on a hard line over the left-field wall. There was 3-for-4, two homers, three RBIs, three runs, a walk and nine total bases in a game the Astros had to win to stay alive in their division. And there was a just-turned 21-yearold from Ponce, Puerto Rico, who’s rewriting the book and redefining his position without ever showing his age.
Carlos Correa has been doing this since June 8, when he changed the Astros’ 2015 season and foreseeable future in a single call-up from the minors. But Saturday at Minute Maid Park was different and so much more.
Almost half of the baseball country was watching. The we-own-Houston Rangers were eyeing another series win. Texas was up 3-0 in the first inning after embarrassing the Astros less than 24 hours prior. The West hopes and the final wild card were starting to evaporate in a sad September haze, after 154 games of fighting and with No. 155 immediately feeling out of touch. No moment too big
Then the Captain took over. Showrrea. The New Kid. Whatever you want to call him is fine. Just know that after 92 early breaths of his MLB life, the Astros have never had anyone like Correa, and baseball is still figuring out how good No. 1 can really become.
“The moment’s never too big for him. National TV, pennant race, an archrival in state — it probably doesn’t get any better than that,” manager A.J. Hinch said after the Astros held on for a critical 9-7 victory, shooting down the Rangers for the first time in nine tries.
Three years ago, Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow boldly picked outside the box when the organization made the most important selection of its draft-focused rebuild. Three years later, Correa rivals three-time All-Star Jose Altuve as the Astros’ surest thing in the box and already has hoisted himself up as The One.
Not by bragging, boasting or asking for or demanding public attention. Not because of his swagger, entourage or endorsement power. Just by playing baseball so well so early in his career that the impossible becomes perfectly possible. Numbers: Correa’s 21 homers tie Lance Berkman’s franchise rookie record and are the most by a shortstop in club history.
With two outs, Correa is hitting .374 (49-for-131) with 11 home runs.
In 92 games, Correa is batting .282 and slugging .520 and has 22 doubles, 61 RBIs and 12 stolen bases. Real life: As Correa calmly walked toward his locker postgame, he answered a circle of cameras, reporters and recorders with two words seldom heard by high-profile athletes in the Twitter age.
“Hello, guys,” said Correa, who made sure an orange Astros hat was fixed to his head before the questions rolled. Roar of the crowd
Late September, 35,736 in downtown Houston, the Rangers soaring again, and you rip a bomb to silence Arlington. What’s it feel like when a sudden roar follows you around the bases?
“You can’t even describe it. … When I’m running to first, I’m like, ‘Let’s go!’ ” Correa said. “You get pumped up, and the adrenaline starts running all over your body.”
As the kid felt the new magic, a 64-year-old man watched from about 10 feet behind. Craig Sager has been on TV sets across the world for decades. But lately, the Turner Sports broadcaster has battled acute myeloid leukemia at MD Anderson Cancer Center.
Sager listened to everything Correa said. Then the sideline reporter who interviews the biggest names in the NBA quietly walked up and shook Correa’s hand.
Sager had been watching the Astros all year. He saw Correa play baseball Saturday. He just wanted to say hi. brian.smith@chron.com twitter.com/chronbriansmith