Houston Astros: Carlos Correa to miss 6 to 8 weeks with torn ligament

The Houston Astros have been on a magical run so far in this 2017 season, off to their best start in franchise history standing at 62-31 and leading the American League by 10.5 games. So far they’ve been able to withstand a barrage of injuries to their starting rotation. but now, the injury bug has claimed it’s first big victim on the offensive side.

The Houston Astros have had quite a healthy year from their lineup. Other than a day-to-day wrist injury from a hit by pitch suffered by George Springer and a seven day disabled list stint from Josh Reddick from a concussion, the Astros offense hasn’t had nearly the terrible luck the rotation has.

But now Carlos Correa is going to be out for potentially up to two months and the depth of this lineup will be tested without one of their three MVP candidates. The injury happened mid-at bat on a swing that jammed a thumb that had been injured previously on a head first slide he made against the Atlanta Braves on July 4th.

Here’s a quote about the injury from Correa per mlb.com:

"On that swing [Monday], I felt like a shock through my finger. It was hurting a lot and I got checked today and the MRI showed a torn ligament."

Correa was having a career year in his third season as a pro, hitting .320 with 20 home runs and 67 RBIs. He was getting buzz as an MVP candidate alongside teammates George Springer and Jose Altuve.

His injury will test the league leading buzz saw of an offense that the Astros have had all year. Colin Moran, who was an all-star in the Triple-A all-star game, was called up to replace him. The team needed another infielder to fill Correa’s absence on the roster.

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Fortunately the flexibility of Alex Bregman to play short stop and third base and Marwin Gonzalez to spell Bregman at short as well gives them a still potent left side of the infield. Yuli Gurriel has also played third base before so he can move over if need be in case of an emergency.

Moran is not a bad option to be coming off the bench either. This year he is having a career year. He’s always been a good hitter and he is doing that again, hitting .308, but he’s hitting for more power than ever before. In his previous three years between minor leagues and major leagues combined he’s hit 30 home runs in 403 games. This year he’s hit 18 home runs in 79 games.

We’ll see if he can keep it up as he takes a second go around at big league pitching. He didn’t fare so well in his first call-up last year as he hit .130 getting only three hits in 23 at-bats.

While he didn’t get consistent at-bats last year which could have contributed to his struggles, he won’t be getting them again this year so he’ll need to figure out how to make that transition from everyday player to back-up.

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Regardless, here’s hoping for a successful surgery and a speedy recovery for an integral part of our high octane offense. The silver lining in all of this is our monumental lead not just in the division but the entire American League affords us the ability to withstand this hit to our team. The bad news is that Correa won’t be back until September and will need to find his rhythm again quickly when he returns before playoff baseball hits. Let’s hope for the best as this is a scary time now for the Astros best chance at a World Series title since 2005.

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