The Big Question at Shortstop: Carlos Correa's Post-Plantar Fasciitis Mobility

Even though he’s had his share of injuries I think that Carlos Correa can be counted on for a few things.

1. 100% effort.

2. Leadership.

3.  No excuses.  

If he thinks he’s healthy, I’m willing to bet on him being a major part of the Twins’ offensive and defensive production this year.  There are no sure things anywhere, ever, but he seems about as solid a bet as the Twins have.  

Curious the article overlooks Correa's -3 OAA in 2022... OAA has a tendency to swing wildly from year to year, and Correa follows the trend.

In any case, Correa wasn't able to get in meaningful work until December so there's probably not a reason to expect his range to improve. Quick reflexes, a sure glove and a cannon arm give Correa a nice floor at SS, but his sprint speed has dropped off a lot from early in his career. 

I expect Correa to have a huge bounce back year at the plate and for him to at least be an average fielder at SS. A nice 4-5 WAR campaign as you'd expect from an All Star caliber position player.

I would put Correa at #3 for injuries concern. IMO AK should be #2.

I would be happy with a repeat of Correa's defense from last year.  With a healthy foot I'm counting on a big jump in offensive production more in line with his career .820 OPS

4 hours ago, Karbo said:

I would put Correa at #3 for injuries concern. IMO AK should be #2.

The injury risk for Kirilloff may be high, but if the concern is "what happens to the team if Player X is injured and how likely is that," then for Kirilloff the answer may be "oh well, maybe someone else steps up," while for Buxton and Correa the answer is more like "hope our Plan B is solid, because there's going to be a dropoff even in the best case."

Games played over the past 3 years.
Lewis = 70, Qualified 0 seasons
Kirilloff = 192, Qualified 0 seasons
Buxton = 238, Qualified 0 seasons
Kepler = 366, Qualified 0 seasons
Correa = 419, Qualified all 3 seasons

The biggest drop off in performance from starter to depth is Royce Lewis since I have faith Lewis can put in a full season, but based on his injury history, he's my number one concern.

IMHO, Kirilloff is the most likely to miss the most games this year. 

I promised myself I would not criticize Correa this year. Well, I'll give him April and May. After that he has to perform. 

4 minutes ago, miracleb said:

Those 3 things and a quarter will buy you cup of coffee.  If he puts up Pedro Florimon numbers......#1, #2, #3 are worthless...... and no one will be talking about them at all.  

PS   I guess the "cup of coffee for a quarter" saying......... might be a little 'dated' these days......

True but Pedro Florimon didn’t have Carlos Correa’s historical production or talent.  With some health I’m pretty confident about Carlos Correa.  

15 hours ago, DocBauer said:

I've had the same plantar issue and it's debilitating. For him to do what he did do is almost crazy. Since he felt better late in the season and says it's gone now, I take him at his word. I am not worried about him AT ALL. I expect his usual great defense, though a little better than 2023 with two good feet. I think his offense will fall right back in line with his normal career type productions.

Since defense in general has been brought up, I liked the obvious improvement Julien showed and I expect that to continue. Not often discussed is Wallner looked better as the season went along as well. While I have serious issues with a 38yo Santana potentially being in the lineup, one decent rebound season after 3 poor ones, and not exactly great against RHP, I don't doubt his glove. But AK has flashed the leather better than he did in 2023, and I think the playoff error has skewed opinion on him somewhat. With his wrist seemingly fixed, I'm confidently expecting the best season of his career. And he's got enough ability to round in to a solid 1B. If I'm right, Santana will help, but will only end up splitting 1B, and not be the primary 1B. That would be beneficial for this season and beyond, meaning Kirilloff finally establishing himself.

As a fellow sufferer of plantar fasciitis, I too was astounded by how well Correa performed.  I had trouble moving from the couch to the refrigerator.  But being an athlete, I was able to overcome the pain and get that beer.

48 minutes ago, terrydactyls said:

As a fellow sufferer of plantar fasciitis, I too was astounded by how well Correa performed.  I had trouble moving from the couch to the refrigerator.  But being an athlete, I was able to overcome the pain and get that beer.

Lol, you and me both! I have the plantar fasciitis that makes me walk like I'm 105 for about 30-40 steps then suddenly I can walk fine. The longer I don't move, the more steps it takes to get moving. Standing still makes it start to lock up, which feels very tough for baseball what with all the standing around.

I really appreciate what he did last year with this crap. Combined with coming off the weirdest free agency we've seen in a while I'm expecting a standard Correa season this year.

22 hours ago, sweetmusicviola16 said:

Kyle Farmer is not an option at SS, other than once a week or so. If he's at SS over 20-25 games then we are in trouble. Just my opinion.

 

Correa needs to give us 4 plus WAR. 145 games. 25 plus HR/80 plus RBI. 

Farmer is a solid SS, even if he doesn't have the cannon arm that Correa has because he has a very sure glove. Farmer is just as rangey as Correa (which is to say not very), but the defensive grades on Farmer at short are solid. That's to be expected as well, since Farmer was brought in by the Twins to be our likely starting shortstop last year before re-signing Correa. Farmer's bat is MLB average. More than adequate for SS, where the ultimate utility guy would likely post 2.5 WAR in a full season.