The Houston Astros (30-17) have yet to take their foot off the gas pedal. They lead the AL West by 6.5 games over the Los Angeles Angels and Seattle Mariners and now rumors suggest they could promote the MLB's top prospect in the coming weeks.
Shortstop prospect Carlos Correa is only 20 years old, but he's already reached the highest level of the minor leagues. The Astros promoted him to Triple-A Fresno earlier this month and he's batting .283/.353/.500/.853 with 14 runs scored, three home runs, eight RBIs and three stolen bases in 14 games.
He earned the promotion after he was hitting .385/.459/.726/1.185 with 25 runs scored, 7 home runs, 32 RBIs and 15 stolen bases in 29 games at Double-A Corpus Christi.
And now, the next step is the MLB.
"The guess of one Astros person is that top Houston prospect (and maybe the top MLB prospect) Carlos Correa could be up 'within three weeks,' which is close to what was predicted here last week," writes Jon Heyman of CBS Sports.
ESPN Insider Keith Law ranked Correa the top prospect in the MLB this week after re-evaluating the league's young talent and he also foreshadows the 20-year-old will hit the majors soon.
"Correa won't turn 21 until late September -- by which point he'll be the Astros' starting shortstop -- and already has dominated every minor league level he has played in, including Double-A to start this year, and should remain at shortstop at least for the start of his major league career. He has MVP upside, with one of the best pure hit tools in the minors," he wrote.
Orioles' third baseman Manny Machado made his MLB debut when he was 19 years old back in 2012. He played in 51 games that year and maintained a .262 batting average and a .739 OPS. He's been the O's starting third baseman ever since and he doesn't seem to think there's any risk in calling up Correa at such a young age.
"You never know what's going to happen. And then you really never know, he might be a superstar," Machado said of Correa prior to today's matchup between Baltimore and Houston, via Evan Drellich of the Houston Chronicle. "Not saying that he's not, but give him a shot. See what it is. What's the worst that can happen? He can go back down. ... I don't think that's (going to be) the case. I think he's a great player. I think he's going to be very successful up here and he just needs the time."
Astros' general manager Jeff Luhnow has shown he's willing to call up young players. He's already done that with George Springer last season as well as Preston Tucker and Lance McCullers this season. If he thinks Correa can provide more productivity than current shortstop Marwin Gonzalez (.253/.260/.404 with 13 runs scored, 2 home runs and 12 RBIs), then we may see the 20-year-old in the very near future.
