Carlos Correa was considered by many scouts as being the second best talent in this year's MLB draft. But in baseball, that is no guarantee that that you will be selected at the top of round one. Factors such as signability and projected time to reach the majors play into teams' decisions. Apparently for the Astros, all these signs pointed them towards the 17-year-old shortstop from the Puerto Rico Baseball Academy.
The selection of Correa as the No. 1 pick was a bit of surprise. Most prognosticators had Houston going with either Stanford pitcher Mark Appel or Georgia high school phenom Byron Buxton. In fact, reports circulated on Sunday that the Astros had indeed decided to pick Appel. Those reports proved to just be a smokescreen.
Correa has the ability to be a franchise cornerstone, with talent that most teams can only dream about acquiring. He is a slick defensive shortstop who can hit for power. At just 17, it will take him time to reach the major leagues, but Houston is still several years away from contending, so they have time to spare. In addition, there is a chance they can sign Correa for less than the projected $7.2 million slot for the No. 1 pick, allowing them to shift more money to their other first rounder, pitcher Lance McCullers.
Rounding out the top five picks on Monday were Buxton, considered the best player in the draft, to the Twins; Florida catcher Mike Zunino to the Mariners; LSU pitcher Kevin Gausman to the Orioles; and San Francisco pitcher Kyle Zimmer to the Royals. Appel fell to the Pirates at No. 8.
While there were several ways the Astros could have gone in this draft, the selection of Correa may have just been a case of the team not wanting to make the same mistake twice. The last time Houston had the No. 1 pick was back in 1992. They selected Phil Nevin, who went on to have a decent career. But just five picks later a high school shortstop by the name of Derek Jeter was picked by the New York Yankees. We all know how that story ended.
This time, the Astros got their shortstop.
