HOUSTON \u2014 Carlos Correa isn\u2019t closing the door on a comeback this season.<\/p>\n
Correa, who underwent ankle surgery in early May that he described as season-ending<\/a>, has resumed baseball activities and is running at an almost 100 percent effort level. Correa is fielding ground balls and could resume hitting soon, if he is cleared to do so during his doctor\u2019s appointment on Tuesday.<\/p>\n The progress prompted an obvious question: Could the Houston Astros shortstop make a stunning return for a September stretch run?<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ll see,\u201d Correa said on Saturday. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t be doing all this work if I didn\u2019t think there was a chance.\u201d<\/p>\n MLB Mailbag: Trade deadline lightning round<\/p>\n Andy McCullough<\/p>\n Correa tore the peroneus brevis tendon in his left ankle during a freak accident in pregame batting practice on May 5. Correa underwent surgery on May 11 and, at the time, described his return-to-play timeline as six to eight months. Correa has not even reached the three-month mark of his recovery.<\/p>\n \u201cAs soon as I got hurt, I got on this protocol and I started looking for all the information I could into how to speed up the process \u2014 the things I needed to eat, how I needed to sleep, the type of treatment I needed,\u201d Correa said. \u201cWe\u2019ve been doing a great job of that. We\u2019re in a good spot.\u201d<\/p>\n It is perhaps far too early to project how Houston would fit Correa back into the fold, but any contributions would be welcomed within a top-heavy lineup that is seeking fortification before Monday\u2019s trade deadline. Before his injury, Correa slashed .279\/.369\/.418 with a .787 OPS that would be the third-highest in Houston\u2019s everyday lineup.<\/p>\n Correa\u2019s potential return would reignite questions of how the Astros plan to parcel playing time among a surplus of infielders. Isaac Paredes, whom Correa displaced from third base upon arriving from Minnesota at last July\u2019s trade deadline, has been one of Houston\u2019s most productive hitters and played serviceable defense at third base during Correa\u2019s absence.<\/p>\n Shortstop Jeremy Pe\u00f1a is the club\u2019s second most-valuable player behind American League MVP front-runner Yordan Alvarez \u2014 and Correa has already said he sought to move off shortstop to extend his career and limit soft-tissue injuries.<\/p>\n The Astros could ask Jose Altuve to again move off of second base and return to left field, which would open an infield spot for Paredes. There is thought within the organization that Altuve would be amenable to moving back to left field for the right circumstance. Correa returning is, obviously, one of them.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m in a really good spot. A really good spot,\u201d Correa said. \u201cI don\u2019t feel it. Been progressing to running and sprinting and it feels great.\u201d<\/p>\n Correa said he has not sprinted at 100 percent effort yet, but has shown \u201csome 80s, 90s.\u201d Tuesday\u2019s doctor\u2019s appointment looms as the next hurdle Correa must clear. If he does, it may become easier to envision a reality in which Correa returns to a club that moved into first place in the American League West<\/a> on Friday.<\/p>\n \u201cThe way we\u2019ve been playing lately definitely motivates me even more to go out there, put in the work and try to make it back,\u201d Correa said. \u201cWe\u2019ll take it day by day.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HOUSTON \u2014 Carlos Correa isn\u2019t closing the door on a comeback this season. Correa, who underwent ankle surgery…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":798160,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[21850,373,363,99],"class_list":["post-798159","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-fantasy-baseball","tag-houston-astros","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/798159","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=798159"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/798159\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/798160"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=798159"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=798159"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=798159"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}