HOUSTON -- Carlos Correa won’t be returning to the Astros this season, manager Joe Espada announced Tuesday, after the star third baseman experienced some soreness while rehabbing his surgically repaired left ankle in Florida.
Correa had been working out at the team’s Spring Training facility in West Palm Beach, Fla., for about 10 days with hopes of beginning a Minor League rehab assignment later this week, but the decision was made for Correa to instead focus on returning healthy for 2027.
"The build-up on the last couple of days has really kind of been tough on his leg,” Espada said. “It's created some soreness and stuff like that."
Correa had peroneus brevis tendon repair surgery on his left ankle on May 11 and was expected to miss the remainder of the season, but he began to have thoughts about returning when he was cleared to swing the bat in early August. He began running shortly after that and was making enough progress that the team was planning how to fit him into the lineup when he came back.
Correa, who will turn 32 on Sept. 22, was slashing .279/.369/.418 with three homers and 16 RBIs in 32 games before injuring himself while swinging in the batting cages. He slashed .290/.355/.430 with six homers and 21 RBIs in 51 games for the Astros in 2025 after the Trade Deadline move back to Houston.
He was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2012 MLB Draft out of Puerto Rico and blossomed into a star and franchise icon in Houston, leading the Astros to six trips to the playoffs, including three American League pennants and a 2017 World Series title.
Correa signed with the Twins after the 2021 season -- when he won a Gold Glove and finished fifth in AL MVP voting -- but waived his no-trade clause to return to Houston.