Wednesday June 6th, 2012

                                                                                                                      Image Courtesy of Aol.Sportingnews.com

Brendan Henderson: Coming into this year’s MLB Draft, the main question people kept asking themselves was, “Who are the Houston Astros going to take with the first overall pick?” Many thought the Astros would go with college pitcher Mark Appel or the young centerfielder Byron Buxton from Appling County High School in Georgia. Instead of taking the players most people thought they would, the Astros took the young shortstop from the Puerto Rico, Carlos Correa. Was it a good move for the Astros? I will tell you what I think below.

When you look at a shortstop, the main thing you first look for is fielding, and this young shortstop can definitely field. Carlos has great first-step quickness which allows him to get to a lot of balls and it gives him good range to each side. He also has a cannon arm as well. Big league shortstops need big league arms and this guy definitely has one. He can fire the ball across the infield at 97 miles per hour. Carlos has good throwing accuracy right now, but I expect it to get much better as he progresses in the minor leagues.

Correa is a decent hitter already; he has a good, fundamental swing with good bat speed. When he makes contact, he makes good, solid contact. Most scouting reports are saying that he knows how to keep the barrel of the bat in the zone but his stride can get long sometimes and his head moves up and down, which prevents him from getting a consistent level look at the pitch. Scouting reports are saying that he can use the whole field though, which is something you love to see in a young hitter. I wouldn’t be too worried about the flaws that I mentioned above because he is still very young and all these things can be fixed when he goes to the minor leagues.

Correa isn’t a power hitter so-to-speak yet, but with his body makeup of 6-foot-3 and 190 lbs, I can really see him turning into a good power hitter in the future. He has body strength and good bat speed, those two things make up a good power hitter. Scouting reports are also saying that he has some loft in his swing, which makes me believe he can turn into a decent power hitting shortstop in the future.

Correa’s speed is pretty average to a little above average for now. He runs with long fluent strides which helps him. Scouting reports are saying he may slow down though, as his body fills out. But only time will tell.

Overall, I am very high on Carlos Correa. He has worked very hard to get to where he is now and he deserves every bit of the attention that he is receiving. I think he will fit into the Astros system nicely as he progresses through the minor leagues. The one thing fans need to remember about Carlos is that he is still very young and he will only get better as he keeps playing. He has a lot of potential and while he was a first overall pick, he may not turn into the next Alex Rodriguez as some hope. The good news is that Correa is expected to sign very quickly. That means Astros fans will be able to watch one of the key future components of their team very soon on a baseball field.

Image Courtesy of Perfectgame.org

***Today’s feature was prepared by Brendan Henderson, MLB reports Intern.  We highly encourage you to leave your comments and feedback at the bottom of the page and share in the discussion with our readers.  You can also follow Brendan on Twitter (@HenduBlog)***

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