Astros’ Correa a rising star on field, in marketing
At age 20, standing 6 feet 4, with talent in every facet that baseball demands and traits that will appeal to every element in this country’s most diverse city, Carlos Correa is at center stage as Houston’s Boys of Summer enter the heart of the 2015 season.
James Harden, Dwight Howard and the Rockets are done until the fall, and J.J. Watt, Arian Foster and the Texans are a few weeks away from training camp and the NFL regular-season opener. The Houston sports scene, for the moment, belongs to the first-place Astros.
And no one among that group is drawing more attention these days than the Astros’ rookie shortstop — No. 1 in your program, No. 1 on your Astros memorabilia shopping list and No. 1, in terms of the fastest start in on-field performance, of any Astros newcomer in recent years.
“I never take it for granted,” Correa said. “Ever since I got hurt (a leg injury that kept him out of minor league action for the second half of the 2014 season), I love the game even more and appreciate
every single day and play every game like it’s my last one.”
Correa’s focus this weekend is playing the New York Yankees, the former team of his boyhood hero, Derek Jeter, and Alex Rodriguez, the current player to whom he is most frequently compared.
He has money in the bank — a $4.6 million signing bonus as the Astros’ top pick in the 2012 draft with an annual salary of at least $500,000, the Major League Baseball minimum.
Opportunities, however, abound elsewhere. As a bilingual personality in a market like Houston, the fourth-largest Hispanic media market in the country and the 10th-largest overall market, his endorsement and promotional possibilities are boundless.
Jorge Gomez, a senior account executive for the Lopez Negrete advertising agency, said Correa’s arrival combined with the Astros’ recent ascent from mediocrity will draw attention from advertisers looking to capitalize on his unique drawing power.
Watt, of course, is the 2,000-pound gorilla of sports marketing in Houston, but there’s room for more. Harden has appeared in several spots, and Astros second baseman Jose Altuve did a Pepsi commercial in his native Venezuela and adorns Astros billboards across Houston. Demographic support
“There is a big young Hispanic demographic in Houston and a big Caribbean demographic,” Gomez said. “His possibilities are endless. There’s definitely untapped potential for any advertiser that would want to market with him.”
The Astros, too, are aware of Correa’s potential as a drawing card.
“That’s not the reason we drafted him, and it’s not the reason he’s here,” Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow said. “But certainly having a bilingual player and a bicultural player who can be a superstar in this market, I think he can have broad appeal across the country and specifically in Texas.
“With the way he acts and the way he carries himself and the way he communicates, he’s a very polished young man for 20 years old. I have a feeling he’ll have some cereal boxes in his future.”
But with the world, potentially, at his feet, Correa is opting to help others before he helps himself. His first ventures into the business of baseball off the field will involve not commerce but charity.
“I want to help people who don’t have the same advantages,” Correa said. “I’m able to play this game and make a living, and I want to go out and help somebody else a little bit.”
Frank Higginbotham, Correa’s marketing representative, spent several days earlier this month in Correa’s native Puerto Rico working with the Salvation Army and other organizations to line up charitable opportunities. He said he will do the same in Houston during this homestand and that Correa’s first endorsement-related deals will involve not products but philanthropy. Impacted by the homeless
“Our first order of business is establishing Carlos with some charities in Houston,” Higginbotham said. “When we were in Houston, we were impacted by the homeless, especially around the stadium. We’re working to get Carlos in a position where he can work with the homeless and with children. Since Houston gave him his opportunity, he wants to do that in Houston as well as in Puerto Rico.”
Growing up in Puerto Rico, Correa worked not only on baseball skills but other aspects of life that will broaden his impact and his appeal, said his father, Carlos Correa Sr.
“He has wanted to be something not only for Hispanics but for English-speaking and American fans,” Correa Sr. said through an interpreter. “That flexibility is going to help him to do other things that will help people, on the field and off, and to be part of the community.”
Higginbotham said the Correa camp will move slowly on the promotional front. Other than equipment deals, Correa has no endorsement agreements in place.
“We’re listening to offers,” he said. “We have been very slow to this point. We’re not doing deals just to do deals. Not having anything out there will create more of a market for him.”
Meanwhile, memorabilia collectors are rushing to gather all things Correa, hoping he can convert cloth and cardboard into cash just as surely as the fairy tale character Rumpelstiltskin could spin straw into gold. Merchandise is big seller
The Astros jersey in which Correa hit his first major league home run was auctioned earlier this month for $20,638, and the jersey he wore in his 2012 professional debut went for $15,026. An autographed Bowman baseball card sold on eBay for $10,000, and the first base he touched at U.S. Cellular Field in Chicago for his first Astros hit sold for $2,050.
The Astros do not disclose merchandise sales figures but said during Correa’s first week with the team that a Correa Tshirt was the most popular item among customers by a factor of 10-to-1. Authentic Correa jerseys (at $282.99 each), replica jerseys and T-shirts are available at the Astros gift shop and through the team’s website.
Among more specialized collectors, Mike Acosta, the Astros’ director of authentication, said the jersey in which Correa hit his first big league homer drew the highest price of any Astros item offered at the MLB Auctions website.
Even Correa’s moments of failure are potential collectors’ items. The baseball with which he was retired on a ground out in the seventh inning of a June 12 game against the Mariners is on the MLB site with an opening auction offer of $200 and a current high bid in the $500 range.
“I have no doubt that (Correa) will have the rock star quality that George Springer attracted last year,” Acosta said. “When we get his first cracked bat, that probably will be an auction item.” Not everything for sale
Acosta said he will consult with Correa about signing baseballs to be offered for sale at Minute Maid Park. Correa, of course, will continue to sign free autographs as he chooses to do so for fans at the game. Once he starts bulk signings, however, Acosta said the Astros will limit the number of Correa-signed items that each customer can purchase.
Not everything is for sale, of course. Correa has kept some items for his father, and Acosta said the Astros will keep some items for a proposed team Hall of Fame, much as they have done for current stars Springer and Altuve and older greats such as Nolan Ryan and Craig Biggio.
“Those items help tell the story (of the Astros) and they will stay with us,” Acosta said.
Correa’s story, of course, is a work in progress. He’s still on his first swing through American League opponents, and as he gets more at-bats, opposing pitchers will surely determine his strengths and weaknesses.
As Astros fans and executives track Correa’s development, so do opponents like Rodriguez. The Yankees veteran said he was eager to get a look at the young man who many have said is a spitting image of a young A-Rod, and, in the process, to remember what a great thing it is to be a baseball player with time on his side and talent to burn.
“Everything I’ve heard about him has been phenomenal,” Rodriguez said. “I love to see brilliant talent. He just has to take it one day at a time. His future is so bright.”
“Everything I’ve heard about him has been phenomenal. I love to see brilliant talent. He just has to take it one day at a time. His future is so bright.”
New York Yankees star Alex Rodriguez