Correa’s Catch Against Red Sox Saved the Game (And Maybe the Twins Season)

The Minnesota Twins would be in much better shape if Carlos Correa were hitting like he used to.

However, they’d be absolutely doomed, or something like the Chicago White Sox, without Correa playing shortstop as well as he ever has.

Correa made one of the best plays he’s ever made with the Twins, probably the best play he’s made since the one against the Toronto Blue Jays in the playoffs in 2023, to help them win a game Sunday afternoon. While an extraordinary moment against the Boston Red Sox, the catch was also emblematic of how Correa has played on defense all season. Only three shortstops, and only 10 players at any position, rate better than Correa does this season at MLB Statcast.

Conversely, few players in the league have been more enigmatic overall than Correa, who isn’t getting on base, hitting for power, or running very fast in his 10th season at age 30. Just a season ago, he hit .310/.388/.517 with 14 home runs in 86 games while battling plantar fasciitis in his right heel. This season at the plate has been yikes: .216/.256/.304 with one homer (one!) and seven entire walks in 34 games.

What is it you’d say Correa does here? Well, against the Boston Red Sox, Correa’s contribution rested with his defense. They don’t hand out five-star plays for infielders on MLB Statcast like they do for outfielders. However, if they did (and they should), Correa deserved to have a constellation named after him for his catch to rob Jarren Duran at the bottom of the second inning.

With runners at second base and third, and the Red Sox already having scored twice against right-hander Chris Paddack to go up by a run, Duran popped a flare into shallow center field that looked certain to find grass. At least one more run would have scored, and an even bigger inning seemed possible, given how the ball has bounced for the Twins so far this season.

With the Twins intending to cut off a runner at the plate on a ground ball his way, Correa had positioned himself on the infield grass, maybe 15 feet from the second-base bag. Once the batter made contact, Correa cut to his left and sprinted after the flare, sharply turning at the bag with his back to the action to complete a 180.

Surely, he lost sight of it for a moment. Covering perhaps another 50 feet with his head tilted back as far as it could go so he could look straight up to find the ball’s path, Correa reached out and lunged at the last second to make the catch.

Correa was an estimated 179 feet from home plate, the only Twins player anywhere near the ball, with center fielder Byron Buxton charging in but too deep to make a play. After passing Buxton, Correa quickly turned again to fire the ball back into the infield. With time called before the next at-bat, Buxton and Correa shared a moment back to their positions that only two great defensive players can understand, exchanging knowing looks and a handshake.

Check out the Correa strut:

All he needs to be cooler is Tarantino movie credits.

Paddack wasn’t out of trouble yet, but the next batter flied weakly to shallow left and the Twins were still in the game. Boston added another run in the third before Minnesota’s offense finally woke up. Correa played a role there, too.

With the score tied 3-3 in the eighth, Correa led off with a 107 mph single and, with two outs, scored the go-ahead run on a double by Harrison Bader off the Green Monster. It was Correa’s second 105-plus mph single of the game. An obviously welcome offensive contribution, but one that came with the typical caveats for Correa.

Good: Correa got on base by hitting the ball over 100 mph.

Bad: Correa hit singles with single-degree launch angles. The Twins also need doubles and home runs from Correa, who has only nine extra-base hits in 2025. Another thing he doesn’t do: draw walks. Only seven so far in 133 plate appearances, the worst pace of his career, by far.

If he’s going to make contact like Luis Arráez or Mark Belanger, Correa would need to hit well over .300 and/or triple his walk rate to be a valuable member of the lineup — which he ought to be for $37.3 million. If he couldn’t replicate his offensive numbers from a season ago, some of the best stats of his career, Correa producing a slash line something like his pre-plantar fascia period of 2021 to 2022, when he hit .285/.366/.476, would be just peachy.

So why isn’t he hitting better? Correa blames his swing for being lousy (thank you, Carlos, we can see that in the results). When being specific, Correa has referred to plate appearances when he lost patience and discipline with the method he practiced in the batting cage. What’s happening in the cage, for the most part, has stayed in the cage. What’s happening at the plate with Correa is for the birds.

Correa has had isolated moments, or a few games in a series, when it looked like perhaps he was turning things around. He was hitting the ball hard and not on the ground for a 6-4-3 double play. It only seems like Correa leads the league in GIDP; three players have hit into more of them.

He isn’t running fast, and he’s doing so purposely, to save his feet. He makes exceptions, like on his catch against the Red Sox, or when he turned on the burners on Bader’s go-ahead double off the Monster. Correa is trying to prevent pain in his heels from recurring, but he doesn’t play defense like someone compromised by his feet. Plantar fasciitis is not why Correa’s hitting has been poor.

Is it something else, perhaps in his psyche? Correa said something funny a month ago when the Twins played the Royals. Someone asked Correa how he was swinging the bat, that perhaps better results were starting to come. He responded with, seemingly, too much information.

“I’m seeing the ball really, really good, and I feel like my pass (swing) has been pretty solid at the plate,” Correa said. “And I’m going to keep doing that.”

But there was more. Correa continued, unprompted, about how Minnesota’s new hitting coaches fit into the process.

“You know, we’ve got new hitting coaches, and the communication keeps getting better and better as days go by, and we get to know each other a lot better,” Correa said.

No one had asked about Matt Borschulte or his staff, in their first season after the Twins let go of David Popkins, who was said to be Correa’s favorite hitting coach of any he’s ever had.

Huh.

“Hitters, we’ve always got to make adjustments every time we get new coaches, and I think we’re starting to get comfortable with them, and we’re communicating in such a great way that they understand where I want to be as a hitter,” Correa said. “I think we’re getting close to that.”

This was April 8, the day Pablo López strained his hamstring. Correa was batting .150/.209/.225 at the time, but including that game, he has since batted .258/.287/.371. Not good enough, but less anemic. Correa stressed that things were harmonious, as far as he was concerned, with Borschulte’s staff. In case anyone was worried.

“It’s good to be on the same page with them and just go out there and go to a cage and work on something every single day to keep getting better,” Correa added.

If he says so.

Correa has denied that old injuries (he also has a legendary bad back) have anything to do with his poor extended start at the plate. His sore left wrist could be another matter. Correa had to leave the New York Mets game on April 15 because of wrist soreness. He was back in the lineup three days later against the Atlanta Braves, coming through with two hits, including a double. The next night, Correa hit his only home run of 2025.

He couldn’t sustain his success at the plate, but Correa has been better in his most recent 10 games. He’s hit .317, but with only two doubles, no home runs, one walk, and 11 strikeouts in 43 plate appearances. Twins manager Rocco Baldelli has dropped him in the batting order, from second to typically third or fourth.

In another universe, Baldelli might drop him further, but it’s not like the rest of the Twins lineup is full of hitters performing their best. They have a 15-20 record after all, despite having the ninth-best ERA in the majors. Minnesota’s lineup is filled with underachievers.

They don’t all have to hit, but Correa probably does, for the Twins to realistically compete for the postseason. Until then, there’s always Correa’s glove. It’s something that injuries or new hitting coaches cannot seem to disturb. If the Twins find their way out of the wilderness and make it back to the postseason, or even if they just become the best version of themselves, they can look back to Correa’s play as one of the reasons they didn’t crumple up and die.