Correa: Injury-plagued season ‘toughest year of my career’
Before the second of three games he will sit out in the midst of a division race, Carlos Correa assigned an obvious title to his injury-plagued season.
“It’s been a tough year, obviously the toughest year of my career — not performance-wise, just staying healthy and being able to play and contribute,” Correa said. “At the same time, it happens. It happens to a lot of athletes out there. We just have to keep working and trying to be successful.”
Correa was shut down for the remainder of the Astros’ final regular-season home stand against the Los Angeles Angels.
Manager A.J. Hinch said Friday the former American League Rookie of the Year will be reevaluated when the team arrives in Toronto on Monday. Hinch did say Correa will play during the road trip.
Saturday, on his 24th birthday, Correa confronted the seemingly untreatable tightness which still affects both his oblique and back.
“If I came back to play, I was healthy,” Correa said. “I don’t like to make excuses because of my performance. If I’m out there on the field it’s because I’m as healthy as possible.”
Correa spent 34 games on the disabled list from June 26-Aug. 10 with what the club termed “lower back soreness.” Oblique problems arose earlier in June, causing Correa to miss four games.
“It’s a mix of both,” said Correa, who was unavailable for comment on Friday. “It’s been a rough year for me when it comes to staying on the field and being healthy out there. Even when I came back, it was a grind everyday going into the training room and the weight room, trying to be healthy every single night when I go out there and trying to make it feel better.”
Since he returned from the disabled list on Aug. 10, Correa has a .480 OPS. He’s been usurped as the cleanup hitter by both Yuli Gurriel and Tyler White. On the surface, there’s been little defensive dropoff as his offense wanes, though Correa disputed the notion.
“If I look at the first two months of the season, I think my range was a lot better, my first step was a lot better,” Correa said. “Right now, I just have to make the routine plays and balls right at me. You haven’t seen me making diving plays or ranging for plays or stuff like that.”
“Everything was better at the beginning of the year, obviously.”
R&D director Fast no longer with team
Mike Fast, the Astros’ director of research and development, said Friday he has left the organization.
Fast declined to discuss his reasons for leaving the club. Hired by general manager Jeff
Luhnow in 2012 and promoted in 2015, Fast was formerly an author at Baseball Prospectus.
As the director of research and development, Fast oversaw the operation of the Astros’ analytical group while assisting with player evaluation and transactions.