Astros face a decision on Correa like O’s did on Machado in ’12
BALTIMORE — The Baltimore Orioles were in second place on Aug. 8, 2012, trailing the New York Yankees by 4½ games in the American League East. The next day, a 20-year-old shortstop named Manny Machado was promoted to the majors from Class AA.
Machado, a 6-3 righthanded hitter with all the tools you could want, was the third overall draft pick out of a Miami high school in 2010. In his first four games, he hit three home runs, and he never had played a game at Class AAA.
Machado’s numbers weren’t eye-popping at year’s end. He finished the regular season with seven home runs, a .262 average, a .294 on-base percentage and .445 slugging percentage. His production picked up in each of the next three seasons, although injuries have hampered him.
Orioles general manager Dan Duquette has never regretted the decision.
“He did a great job,” Duquette said during the Astros-Orioles series at Camden Yards. “Came up, played good defense. He contributed offensively. And he got some big hits in the playoffs. You know, I don’t really worry about the players at the top of the draft that have all the tools when they come up. He’s a gifted player.”
Promote or not?
No wonder then that talk of the Astros promoting 6-4 shortstop Carlos Correa — from Class AA earlier this season and now from Class AAA, where the 20-year-old former first overall pick is doing well — often leads to a discussion about Machado.
“Let the kid play,” Machado said. “The only way you’re going to get better is by playing at the level that you need to be playing. I bet you he’s going to be a big leaguer, no question about it. See what he could do up here.
“You never know what’s going to happen. He might be a superstar. Not saying that he’s not, but give him a shot. See what it is. What’s the worst that can happen? He can go back down. … I don’t think that’s (going to be) the case. I think he’s a great player. I think he’s going to be very successful up here, and he just needs the time.”
The Orioles finished 2012 with a wild-card berth after finishing two games back of the Yankees, whom they lost to in a five-game Division Series.
There seems little doubt the Astros soon will promote Correa, either for the homestand that begins June 12 or maybe on the road before coming home, to give Correa a little time away from the Minute Maid Park spotlight to get his feet wet.
Waiting until mid-June gets the team past the worry of Super 2, under which they would have to give him a fourth arbitration raise instead of just the typical three. It also gives Correa roughly a month at Class AAA, which can be beneficial.
Ask Preston Tucker about the difference between Class AA and AAA pitching, and he’ll tell you it’s nothing to sneeze at.
But as Duquette pointed out, with the most gifted players, it might not matter as much.
“I think he’s close to being major league ready, but I do think he’s benefiting from his time there,” Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow said of Correa. “He’s seeing a lot of off-speed pitching that he hasn’t seen before. He’s learning how to make adjustments.
“One of the impressive things is how he will make adjustments in a single game and sometimes even in a single at-bat. For a 20-year-old kid to be able to do that against pitchers that have already been in the big leagues, I think that’s pretty impressive.”
Second-guessing futile
Should Correa already be in the Show?
The Astros have the best record in the American League and entered Wednesday with biggest lead in any of the six divisions in the majors. So it can’t be said the decision to let Correa play at Class AAA has left them in bad shape.
But what if they miss the playoffs by one game? What could Correa have done to change one game or two or three?
“You can’t secondguess,” Luhnow said about that line of thinking. “You do what’s best for the organization, and you never know what could (have made a difference) if you end up missing the playoffs by a game. There’s so many different things — managerial moves, roster moves, player performances. You could argue that Marwin (Gonzalez) won a game with a couple of his hits.
“Jonathan Villar has done some good things, so everybody on this team has contributed to some of our wins. And if you take them out, you don’t know. The hypothetical what-ifs is not something that is productive.
“We feel like Carlos has a chance to help this team this year. But he’s not at that point right now. There’s no guarantee that he’s going to help us more than the guys we have right now. Now, it could become more obvious as the summer moves on.”
Duquette waited later in the year to promote Machado than the Astros likely will to promote Correa. But Machado had 219 minor league games under his belt when he was called up.
Stay tuned
In his 272nd minor league game on Tuesday, Correa crushed his third home run since moving to Class AAA. He’s hitting .283 with a .353 on-base percentage in 14 games at the new level.
Correa had a much better performance at Class AA (.385 average) than did Machado (.262).
Injured Astros shortstop Jed Lowrie isn’t due back until after the All-Star break, and he’d likely play some third base or maybe some first base when Correa arrives.
“I think if he can help us win, then he can help us win,” Lowrie said when asked about Correa. “He’s a great player, like I said. If he can come up and help us win, that’s all that matters.
“Of course, I (want to play shortstop), yeah. That’s why I came here. I wanted to play short, but I know that Carlos is a great player and he’s going to play this game for a long time. We’ll see how it plays out.”