Carlos Correa, a former teammate and admirer of Carlos Beltrán, expressed pride in the Puerto Rican outfielder's recent induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Speaking at the Houston Astros' FanFest, Correa reflected on Beltrán's influence and shared his vision for the team's 2026 season. He emphasized routines to combat injuries that plagued the Astros in 2025.
HOUSTON -- Carlos Correa grew up in Puerto Rico idolizing Carlos Beltrán, emulating his on-field presence and community involvement. Their paths crossed in 2017, when Correa was an emerging shortstop on the World Series-winning Astros, and Beltrán was wrapping up his 20-season career.
Beltrán's election to the Hall of Fame on Tuesday marked him as the sixth Puerto Rican inductee, alongside Roberto Clemente, Orlando Cepeda, Roberto Alomar, Ivan Rodríguez, and Edgar Martínez. Correa congratulated him by phone on Friday and shared his admiration during Saturday's Astros FanFest at Daikin Park.
"I look at the way he did it back when I was playing with him, and I try to emulate a lot of things he did," Correa said. "I was telling him how proud I was of everything he’s accomplished for being such a great role model for me."
Beltrán's Astros tenure included a standout 2004 season with 90 regular-season games and eight postseason home runs, including one in five straight games. Despite his ties to the 2017 sign-stealing scandal, voters overlooked it given his career across teams like the Royals, Mets, Giants, Cardinals, Yankees, and Rangers.
"When you look at his last year in baseball in ‘17, if you’re going to make an argument that he had 19 years of Hall of Fame production, I don’t think one year of a mistake would rule you out," Correa noted. "When you talk about guys having a chance to make the Hall of Fame, I don’t think that one year should weigh heavier."
Now 31 and back with the Astros after a July trade from the Twins, Correa has shifted to third base to accommodate All-Star Jeremy Peña at shortstop. He has intensified defensive training, taking ground balls four times weekly at Daikin Park—more than in his prior five offseasons combined—and aims for a Gold Glove there, following his 2021 win at shortstop.
Correa has met with manager Joe Espada over lunches to discuss the team's direction after a 2025 season derailed by injuries, ending an eight-year postseason streak by one game. "We had way too many injuries last year, and I feel like when I got here, people didn’t have the routine that they needed," he said. "For the young guys... there’s some things we’ve got to do before and after games, and that’s something we’re going to implement in Spring Training. And when it comes to playing, once everybody’s healthy, I feel like our team is really, really good."
Working with new hitting coaches Victor Rodriguez and Anthony Iapoce, Correa seeks to revive the Astros' offensive style of deep counts and walks. "The key is going back to those years where it was deep counts, it was a lot of walks," he added. "I think that last year toward the end, we didn’t do a good job of controlling the strike zone, and that’s something we’re going to be focusing on moving forward."
