Carlos Correa Deserves 2015 All-Star Spot Due to SS Dearth, Marketability

Much of Major League Baseball, its media and its fans view the game through an archaic lens, tinted by outdated traditions that do not lend the sport to younger, more diverse American audiences.

Too often MLB is seen as a league in which players must pay the figurative dues or toe a certain line in order to be seen as legitimate assets capable of impacting a game steeped in old, sometimes crusty traditions. Because of that, we all miss out on some of the sweetest fruit baseball has to offer because it might have a bruise or two, or because it has not hung from its branch long enough.

It is time to change how we view the game and its young, and we can start with this year’s All-Star Game rosters based on the following statements:

Carlos Correa is the best shortstop in the American League—at least—and Carlos Correa should be on the American League All-Star team when reserves are announced Monday, despite being a Houston Astro for less than a month.

"

It’s been insane to see how quickly Carlos Correa is asserting himself, at 20 years old, as the best shortstop in the American League.

— Joon Lee (@iamjoonlee) June 27, 2015"

“Twenty-year-olds don’t play in the big leagues very often, and he’s showing why he’s supposed to be here and why we’re so excited to have him here,” Astros manager A.J. Hinch told reporters last week. “The balance he shows, the athleticism, the way he rises to the moment, fans in Houston are responding to him, His teammates are responding to him.

“He’s playing at a high level, and we’re going to keep pushing him to be better and better. We’re fortunate to have him on our club. We’re fortunate that he’s handling this arrival with a lot of grace, a lot of dignity, and he’s going to help us win games.”

Jae C. Hong/Associated Press

Like it or not, Correa, a 20-year-old who was the surprise No. 1 overall pick in 2012, has bum-rushed his way to becoming the best player at his position in the American League and one of the most intriguing players in the game. His performance, youth, athleticism, unmistakable all-around talent, position and Latin American (Puerto Rican) descent make him one of the game’s most marketable players even before he has 100 plate appearances in the majors.

The substance is not only seen with the naked eye. It is in the data.

In 97 plate appearances entering Wednesday—he had his first day off Wednesday following a 0-for-8 mini slump—Correa had produced a 1.2 FanGraphs WAR, which was 11^th in the majors among shortstops. Considering that WAR is a counting stat and that most of the players ahead of Correa have about three times as many plate appearances, that number is incredibly impressive.

Correa started his major league career showing he could be among the game’s elite power hitters by scorching 11 balls with exit velocities of at least 100 mph in his first eight games, according to MLB Statcast. In that small window of time, those 11 batted balls were tied with Miguel Cabrera, Giancarlo Stanton, Todd Frazier and Yoenis Cespedes for second most in the majors. That coincides with the fact that Correa’s percentage of hard-hit balls (36.5 percent) is the second-highest among shortstops behind Troy Tulowitzki, according to FanGraphs data.

Correa also has a 136 wRC+, which is a catch-all advanced statistic weighted for the annual offensive environment so that players across eras can be compared. Since 1965, only eight other shortstop seasons when the player was between the ages of 19-24 have produced a higher wRC+ than Correa’s, according to FanGraphs. Alex Rodriguez, Cal Ripken Jr. and Hanley Ramirez all appear on that list twice, and Nomar Garciaparra appears once. 

The more traditional stats are pretty good, too. Correa leads major league shortstops with a .543 slugging percentage and is second with an .852 OPS. He has nine doubles, five home runs and 15 RBI, with most of that production coming from the second spot in the order.

He has been just as impressive with the glove. His five defensive runs saved are fourth highest in the majors despite him playing 195.2 innings through Tuesday.

“I would take Correa because he is an offensive player at a defensive position and a great defensive player," a National League senior adviser told Jim Callis of MLB.com regarding where Correa stacks up against other top prospects in the majors. “It is like having two players.”

It is also like having a marketing department’s dream...because he is.

Through Correa’s first month in the majors, items with his name and number were big-time sellers at Minute Maid Park in Houston. His jersey T-shirt was outselling all other items in the fan store 10-to-1, according to the Houston Chronicle.

“There is a big young Hispanic demographic in Houston and a big Caribbean demographic,” Jorge Gomez of the Lopez Negrete advertising agency told the Chronicle's David Barron in the same report. “[Correa’s] possibilities are endless. There's definitely untapped potential for any advertiser that would want to market with him.”

MLB should be first in line, and that would start with showcasing him in the All-Star Game. Baseball already missed a golden opportunity to do something like this two year’s ago when it didn’t make Yasiel Puig an All-Star despite a stellar first month and a half. Puig is now one of the game’s biggest, most polarizing stars. Baseball did not get in on the ground floor with him because he was left out of All-Star festivities since too many people deemed he did not have enough games to be considered. It was foolish, outdated thinking. 

Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

The same mistake cannot be made with Correa, who is not as flashy and is less of a lightening rod than Puig, but every bit as talented. He is the player at his position most casual baseball fans want to see, and he is the player at his position most dedicated baseball fans realize is the best.

All-Star festivities are a chance for MLB to showcase its stars, both fading and ascending. For too long the game has been stuck in old beliefs that make little sense, and part of the cost for the slow evolution has been young fans.

This All-Star Game is a chance to start getting them back through flashy/worthy players like Bryce Harper, Manny Machado, Joc Pederson and others. Carlos Correa needs to be one of those others.

All quotes, unless otherwise specified, have been acquired firsthand by Anthony Witrado. Follow Anthony on Twitter @awitrado and talk baseball here.