Neal: As Carlos Correa searches for his swing, Twins watch for signs of the hitter they thought they hired

Carlos Correa did something Tuesday the Twins have sorely needed more of since the beginning of the season and, frankly, since the day they signed him.

Correa hammered a Cade Povich fastball 458 feet to left and into the second deck at Target Field for a two-run homer in a 9-1 victory over Baltimore. A signal that Correa is snapping out of his early-season batting funk that produced numbers befitting a backup catcher.

To his credit, Correa was on the field early Wednesday afternoon, before the Twins’ game against Baltimore, working on his swing during early batting practice. Correa has never shied away from putting in the necessary effort to be on top of his game. He needs the results to show for it.

When asked after the home run about the search for the perfect swing, he said: “It’s probably the most I’ve done in the last five years of my career in practice. Definitely more than the past five years.”

When he injured his wrist April 15 during a game against the New York Mets, he was batting .164 with a .473 OPS. He missed one start and has remained in the lineup. And he has started to hit, batting .356 over 11 games heading into Wednesday’s 5-2 win over the Baltimore Orioles.

His home run Tuesday was the type of hard contact of which Correa is capable of .

“We all know what he’s going to do,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. “He’s going to have his mind to something. He’s going to work and put all his energy towards finding it. And he’s found it many times, you know. He’s gone through ups and downs before, and he works through them as well as anybody.”

The up and downs were something the Twins weren’t anticipating more than three years ago when they shocked the baseball community by signing one of the top shortstops in the game.

Defensively, he’s been everything the Twins need, a fielding savant with range, instincts and a splendid arm.

Offensively, it has been a roller coaster.

He posted an .834 WAR in 2022, his first season with the Twins. In 2023, he struggled with plantar fasciitis, and his WAR dipped to .711. He put together an All-Star season in 2024, the year of the Twins’ late-season collapse. He batted .310 with 14 home runs and 54 RBI, but another bout with plantar fasciitis limited him to 86 games.

Even when healthy, however, his bat has gone silent for stretches.

Correa’s slump this season occurred as the Twins dealt with sinking attendance, no reports of a serious buyer for the franchise and a 7-15 start to the season.

If there was a time the Twins needed a fast start to the season, this was it. And Correa & Co. stumbled out of the gate. He’s fit right in in a lineup that has scored three or fewer runs in 17 of the first 37 games, all losses.

Correa’s home run Tuesday was the type of hard contact that hasn’t been easy for him to create. Let’s see a more consistent Correa, please. Because this is Year 4 of Correa’s Twins career, and it has not resembled his Houston Astros career.

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There have been injuries, no doubt. But there have been too many slumps. And he’s in the middle of a six-year, $200 million deal. This year, he’s making roughly $192,500 each day of the MLB season. The Twins signed him once when market forces made a one-year deal feasible. They were his landing spot a year later when deals with the San Francisco Giants and Mets fell through because of concerns over his physical.

They haven’t seen the player who finished fifth in the AL Most Valuable Player voting in 2021, the year before Correa joined the Twins.

It is a joy to watch Correa play in the field. At the plate, not all the time. The offense is not going to work unless Correa and Byron Buxton are producing. After a slow start, Buxton hit his ninth homer of the season Wednesday and has an .819 OPS. When Consistent Correa is at the dish, the Twins are a winning team.

It’s a lot to ask of one player. But the Twins expected a lot from Correa when they signed him. The return on their investment has not been what they expected.

Correa went 0-for-4 on Wednesday, lowering his average to .222. Was his game Tuesday a sign that Correa is close to being the all-around force the Twins have not seen often enough? It needs to be.