HOUSTON -- Astros third baseman Carlos Correa underwent surgery Monday morning to repair the peroneus brevis tendon in his left ankle. Correa, who will miss the rest of the season, suffered the injury while swinging a bat in the batting cage last Tuesday at Daikin Park.
Astros manager Joe Espada said he communicated with Correa via FaceTime during the team’s hitting meeting Monday before the game against the Mariners, and said Correa will rejoin the team in the dugout once he’s off crutches.
“As soon as he can move around and be in the presence of the players and be in the dugout, it’s important,” Espada said. “He’s knowledgeable, he helps young players stay calm and [helps them] play their position, how to go about an at-bat and there’s so many things they can learn from Carlos. Once he’s physically able to do it, he’ll be there.”
Correa was in the batting cage prior to last Tuesday’s game against the Dodgers, and felt a pop in his ankle while taking a swing and dropped to the ground. The initial imaging late that day showed a significant injury, and the tendon injury was confirmed after he met with a foot specialist Wednesday morning.
“I was hitting in the cage, a normal day, feeling great and going through my routine,” Correa said last week. “I took a swing and just felt a pop. It just completely snapped on me and I fell to the ground and couldn't put weight on it. Right away I knew something was wrong.”
Correa had mostly been playing shortstop this season because Jeremy Peña has spent most of the season on the injured list. Isaac Paredes has been the starting third baseman. Nick Allen and Braden Shewmake have been splitting the starts at shortstop since Correa was injured.
Peña (right hamstring strain) is scheduled to begin a Minor League rehab assignment Tuesday at Double-A Corpus Christi and come off the injured list next week.
Correa, who was reacquired by the Astros at the Trade Deadline last year from the Twins, was slashing .279/.369/.418 with three homers and 16 RBI before he was injured.
The ankle injury is different than the one he had in 2014, when he fractured his right fibula sliding into third base while playing for High-A Lexington of the Astros' system. It was that same ankle injury that caused the Mets and the Giants to back out of mega deals with Correa in the winter prior to the 2023 season. Correa eventually re-signed with the Twins, who traded him back to Houston last July.