Only 99 games into his career, Carlos Correa is considered the future face of baseball. At 21, he's the reigning American League Rookie of the Year after batting .279 with 22 home runs and 68 RBI in those 99 games. Those are impressive numbers for a rookie shortstop and already have him in Most Valuable Player conversations for 2016.
He's talented, bright, personable, good-looking and marketable. He's already signed what has been described as a record-breaking deal with Adidas to promote their gear. And he's going to appear in a movie about the legendary Roberto Clemente.
And to think that all of this could be happening to Correa while wearing a Twins uniform.
The Puerto Rican was selected by Houston with the first overall pick of the 2012 draft. The Twins, picking second that year, took outfielder Byron Buxton.
If Houston had taken Buxton with the first overall pick, Twins scouting director Deron Johnson said he would have selected Correa with no reservations.
"Easy decision," Johnson said. "Very easy decision."
The Twins were enamored of Buxton as they prepared for the draft that year and believed he was the best player in the draft. But more than one official used the phrase "extreme interest" when talking about Correa, who had elevated his stock between summer 2011 and January 2012.
Correa spent the weeks before the draft working out for selected teams, including the Astros, Cubs and Twins.
On June 2 — three days before the draft that year — Correa joined about 10 other prospects for a workout at Target Field. Johnson, General Manager Terry Ryan, Mike Radcliff, vice president in charge of player personnel, Vern Followell, director of pro scouting, and Mike Ruth, Midwest scouting supervisor, where among the officials on hand.
"We were on Correa," Radcliff said. "Everybody thought he was a good player, but we were drafting second, and in our humble opinion there were only two teams that were threats [to take him] in the top six or seven teams.
"We were deep, deep, deep on Buxton and [Mark] Appel and the different guys domestically. Players from the islands, it is a little harder. They don't play as much. It was kind of an important deal in getting him up there and having him in front of everybody."
Baseball workouts are not like the NFL scouting combine. Timed sprints are rare. There are no vertical leap measurements. Players hit, field or throw in the bullpen.
Twins outfield prospect Adam Brett Walker was part of the group that day. He was asked to play first base and remembers his glove being popped loudly by the force of Correa's throws from short.
Then they went to hit, and the power surge began.
"[Correa] was like, 'Hey, you can [pitch] the ball away,' " Walker said. "He pretty much said he was going to try to hit opposite-field home runs. They kind of just let us go, to see what we've got. It was pretty fun. We hit some balls pretty far."
The righthanded-hitting Correa blasted home runs to right-center field, which is not easy for major leaguers to do at Target Field.
When asked what he remembered about that day, Correa immediately said: "That I hit a lot of bombs into the upper deck in that workout. That's all I remember, it was a nice stadium and I hit a lot of bombs."
The Twins came away knowing Correa was a complete shortstop prospect.
"He showed power for all fields, " Johnson said "He drove the ball to right well. Showed good hands and agility at short. He did everything. He let it be known."
Correa, however, was convinced the Twins were not going to draft him.
"Because they had their eyes on who they thought was the best player," Correa said.
Yes, the Twins are very happy with Buxton, who has been ranked as the top prospect in baseball during his rise through the minors but had a rough major league debut last season, batting .209 in 46 games. They expect to see Buxton become more of the multi-tooled player they drafted as he opens this season as the starting center fielder.
But they sure could see why Correa was the top pick that year.
"He was definitely talented from the workout," Walker said. "He had a lot of tools, and he carried himself very well, I thought, for being a younger kid.
"And now he's a big-league All-Star."
Things might have been different for the Twins had Buxton been off the board.
"I love the city, I love Minnesota," Correa said. "I loved everything when I went there. But I knew they weren't going to pick me after my workout even though it was great. So you know, I didn't pay much attention to them and I knew I had a chance with Houston, the Cubs.''
