As Carlos Correa lay on the infield dirt near second base Friday night, clutching the ankle that cost him $150 million three years ago, “my brain right away went to a dark place.”
No wonder. His right ankle, shattered during a minor league game in 2014, an injury that dissuaded the Giants from signing him for $350 million and the Mets from giving him $300 million during the winter of 2022-23, had rolled over awkwardly when Pirates outfielder Tommy Pham’s helmet slammed into his leg as Correa tagged him out on a throw from right fielder DaShawn Keirsey Jr.
“I felt my ankle get stuck to the bag and then could feel the vibrations going through my plate,” the instrument surgically inserted to strengthen his ankle more than a decade ago, Correa said. “I’m ultra-sensitive when it comes to that stuff, my ankle. [I thought] here we go again.”
Twins trainers rushed to Correa and eventually helped him hobble off to the dugout. The shortstop went straight to an X-ray machine, and suddenly that dark mood lightened.
“The X-rays were clean. I started putting weight on it. It didn’t feel like I fractured it,” said Correa, whose $200 million contract with the Twins pays him $192,000 every day of the baseball season. “When I tried to put my foot down, I felt that vibration going throughout my entire bone. At that point I knew I was fine. But it was a scary moment.”
After their 2-1 victory, the Twins described his condition as a mild sprain, and Correa even asked to play Saturday. “They said that would be irresponsible,” Correa said. “Tomorrow, I’m going to go through all this [workout] and hopefully play Sunday.”
“We think he’s going to be OK,” manager Rocco Baldelli said. “He has some hardware in there, and when there’s an impact, there are different sensations you’re going to feel. He got zinged pretty good.”
Correa said he learned a lesson from the collision, the first one he has had in a game in quite a while.
