Carlos Correa, the star of the Minnesota Twins, left the game on Friday night in the third inning. Do-Hyoung Park of MLB.com reports that the Twins promptly revealed that the great shortstop has been diagnosed with a right oblique strain.
It’s far too early to tell how long Correa might be sidelined. It becomes concerning, though, that Minnesota disclosed the oblique strain 20 minutes after the two-time All-Star sustained the injury. It is highly probable that he will need a period of time on the disabled list. Although the Twins haven’t disclosed the severity, even the least significant Grade 1 oblique strains usually require many weeks out.
For Minnesota, Correa has started each of the team’s 11 games. Despite a poor performance this evening against Tarik Skubal (0–2), he had gotten off to a scorching start. Through his first 44 plate appearances, Correa has amassed 11 hits and eight walks, batting.306/.432/.444. After an unusually poor year, those first few weeks of the year seemed promising. In the first season of his six-year, $200 million free agent contract, he had posted a slightly below-average slash line of.230/.312/.399 in the previous campaign.
On Friday night, Willi Castro came off the bench to play shortstop. If Correa does miss time, he is one individual available to cover the position. Although Kyle Farmer is a shortstop, Royce Lewis’ early-season quad strain has already forced him into a regular third base job. On their 40-man roster, the Twins don’t have many natural shortstops. Since 2022, Austin Martin has not participated in minor league baseball, while Yunior Severino, a depth infielder, has hardly any experience playing shortstop. All of this season, top prospect Brooks Lee—who is not yet on the 40-man roster—has been on the minor league injured reserve.