Carlos Correa Looking for Long-Term Contract with Houston Astros

Carlos Correa is looking for a long-term deal…

The 26-year-old Puerto Rican professional baseball shortstop says he’s hoping for a long-term contract with the Houston Astros, but wants to seal any deal before Opening Day.

Carlos Correa

“I feel so good, my body feels so great and I feel like I’m going to have such a great season that once the season starts, I don’t want to be involved with or distracted with those conversations,” said Correa after the Astros held their first full-squad workout of the spring.

The Astros avoided arbitration with Correa, who can become a free agent at the end of the season, by signing him to a one-year, $11.7 million contract.

Correa has spent his entire career with the Astros after they selected him with the first overall pick in the 2012 MLB Draft. He said he’d like to stay in Houston, but so far, the team hasn’t talked to him about an extension.

“There’s no talks right now about that,” he said. “Talks are nowhere right now. I leave that up to my agent and the organization, but right now, there’s no talks about it. I haven’t heard from them since the arbitration was settled. That’s where we are right now.”

If Correa does hit the free-agent market, he’ll do it with a strong group of shortstops that could include Javier BáezFrancisco Lindor, Trevor Story and Corey Seager. Correa will be just 27 years old when he’s eligible for free agency if he doesn’t agree to an extension with the Astros.

 

“I’ll be really young. I’ll be one of the youngest players going to free agency next year,” he said. “I feel like it would take the right deal to stay here. I’m not going to sell myself short, but at the same time, I know what I’m worth. … I’m expecting to have a great, healthy season, which will help my case for free agency being the youngest shortstop out there. We’ll see how it goes.”

Houston’s other two stars on the infield have already agreed to long-term contracts — second baseman Jose Altuve signed a five-year, $151 million deal in 2018 and third baseman Alex Bregman agreed to a six-year, $100 million contract in 2019. The Astros lost star outfielder George Springer this offseason when he signed a six-year, $150 million deal with the Toronto Blue Jays.

 

Correa, who was the 2015 American League Rookie of the Year, is a career .276 hitter with 107 homers and 397 RBIs in six major league seasons. He hit .264 with five homers and 25 RBIs in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, but he heated up in the postseason where he had six homers and 17 RBIs to help the Astros to the America League Championship Series.

Nick Gonzales: The Top Latino Pick in This Year’s MLB Draft

Life’s the Pitts for Nick Gonzales

The 21-year-old Latino baseball shortstop and second baseman for the New Mexico State Aggies was the No. 7 pick during the 2020 MLB draft.

Nick Gonzales

Gonzalez, the first Latino pick in this year’s draft, was chosen by the Pittsburgh Pirates

“It’s just awesome,” Gonzales said. “I can’t explain it. This is something that I’ve put a lot of work into and I’m super fortunate it came.”

As a freshman at New Mexico State in 2018, Gonzales hit .347/.425/.596 with nine home runs and 36 RBI over 57 games. As a sophomore in 2019, he led the nation with a .432 batting average.He finished the season hitting .432/.532/.773 with 16 home runs and 80 RBI. 

After the season, he played collegiate summer baseball for the Cotuit Kettleers of the Cape Cod League, where was named the MVP of the league.

Gonzales entered his junior year in 2020 as a top prospect for the 2020 Major League Baseball draft.

The 5-foot-11-inch Gonzales, an NCAA batting champion and unanimous All-American, will reportedly earn  $5,432,400.