WEST PALM BEACH, Florida. Houston Astros second baseman Jose Altuve officially learned that he would have a new double play partner during a late-night phone call with Carlos Correa himself.
Altuve didn’t foresee Correa signing with the Minnesota Twins.
“I was surprised. I did not expect this,” Altuve said on Sunday. “Obviously, we will miss him. He is a great player and a great guy at the club. He was one of our leaders.”
On Friday night, Correa signed a three-year, $105.3 million contract with the Twins. The shortstop was the most coveted free agent left in the market.
Altuve, a seven-time All-Star and 2017 AL MVP, and Correa, a two-time All-Star, have been a mainstay in the center of Houston’s defense and have led the rankings since 2015. This duo helped lead the Astros. to his only World Series title in 2017 and repeat trips to the Series in 2019 and 2021.
A .277 hitter with 133 home runs, Correa batted .279 with 26 homers and 92 RBIs last season and also won his first Gold Glove.
“Now that he’s on a different team, I’m happy for him,” Altuve said. “He got a lot. Happy for him. I know he will play well. He will make the Gemini better.”
Altuve, 31, said he and Correa, 27, have pledged to stay close through frequent phone calls and video chats.
“We’ve had dinner so many times,” Altuve said. “We spent a lot of time together in rooms talking about different things. This is what I will miss the most.”
Days before Correa’s decision, Houston manager Dusty Baker named Jeremy Peña as the favorite to start Opening Day. Considered by many to be one of the Astros’ top prospects, Peña is a career .291 hitter in the minors. Last season, he hit .287 with 10 homers in 30 games at Triple-A Sugar Land.
Peña, 24, the son of former major league player Geronimo Peña, has a locker at the Astros club near Altuve.
“I’m happy for Jeremy that he can get the opportunity to play in the big leagues and establish himself as a regular player,” Altuve said.
While Baker would have loved to have Correa in the roster, signing him has cleared up some of the haze that has shrouded the Houston camp this spring.
“No one likes to be in an uncertain situation,” Baker said. “Everyone loves clarity.”
However, some habits are hard to break.
Players who arrived at the clubhouse on the Sunday morning before the Astros-Washington exhibition game saw a familiar name written at the cleaning site on the day’s roster card: Correa.
Baker’s decision to keep major league players out of the early games this spring allowed him to put teammate Carlos, JC, in the designated hitter against the Nationals.
JC hit .310 with nine homers and 57 RBIs last season in 101 games split between Class A Fayetteville and High Class A Asheville.
Now learning how to play catcher, JC enjoyed a six-hit game and two four-hit games last season, his first game in the minor leagues.
“That’s a lot of hits,” Baker said.
Note:
• National Minor Leaguer Darren Baker pulled out a roster card to share information ahead of a game with his father, Dusty. Darren and Dusty hugged over the home plate and then took pictures together and with the judges. Darren later entered the game playing at second base.