Twins officially welcome shortstop Carlos Correa

By KSTP

[anvplayer video=”5097928″ station=”998122″]

The Minnesota Twins formally welcomed shortstop Carlos Correa to the team during a news conference Wednesday.

The team and Correa agreed to a three-year, $105.3 million contract through the 2024 season. The contract will pay Correa $35.1 million annually, making him baseball’s fourth-highest paid player.

“A momentous day like this, a significant contract like this, with a player of Carlos’s stature only happens with the partnership and support of ownership and Jim Pohlad, our president Dave St. Peter, and the Pohlad family have continued to invest in the Minnesota Twins in a way that allows today’s day to happen and I’m very thankful for that,” Derek Falvey, president of baseball operations for the Twins, said.

Falvey went on to say, “Carlos had a lot of choices, as he should, he’s one of the best players in our game, it’s special. And for him to choose Minnesota, to be a part of our organization, to join the Twins family is just really special. This guy, through and through, is a leader, is someone that’s going to continue to elevate everyone around him in our organization, that’s why he’s here.”

Carlos Correa is formally introduced during a press conference with the Minnesota Twins on March 23, 2022.

During the news conference Wednesday, Correa thanked his family for their support, then said, “I’m super excited to join the Twins family. When we talked on the Zoom call, we only talked about winning and that’s what we want to build here, we want to build a championship culture, we want to move forward and win divisions, win championships, and that’s my goal here, to make everybody around us better and just move forward with that championship mentality.”

Correa, a former Houston Astro, hit .279 with 34 doubles, one triple, 26 home runs, 92 RBI, 104 runs scored, 75 walks, a .366 on-base percentage and an .850 OPS in 148 games last season.

The No. 1 overall pick in the 2012 MLB Draft has spent his entire career with the Astros, prior to this point, hitting .277 with 133 home runs and 489 RBI with a .356 on-base percentage and an .837 OPS in 752 career MLB games. He is also the 2015 American League Rookie of the Year, a two-time AL All-Star and winner of the 2021 AL Gold and Platinum Glove awards.