FORT MYERS, Fla. – Two Carlos Correas were at Terry Park Saturday morning -- even with a variation on the name -- one taking part in his first Perfect Game event at the storied four-field complex; the other taking in at least his fifth. While the younger one seemed in awe, the older one seemed both reflective and appreciative.
Jean Carlos Correa Oppenheimer spent the last two days playing at the Perfect Game WWBA Underclass World Championship as a member of the Caguas-based Puerto Rico Baseball Academy High School (PRBAHS) Red team. He is a 5-foot-9, 160-pound class of 2016 infielder taking part in his first PG event while operating in the shadow of one of Perfect Game’s most prominent alumni.
“I really don’t have a word to explain it but it’s awesome,” Jean Carlos said of the experience Saturday morning while standing just outside one of the dugouts inside the main stadium at Terry Park. “All my friends are out here and we’re trying to play good.”
While Jean Carlos Correa Oppenheimer was speaking with PG on the field, recently turned 20-year-old Carlos Javier Correa Oppenheimer – better known to the baseball world simply as Carlos Correa – was settling into the Terry Park Stadium grandstands intent on spending a couple of hours watching his recently turned 16-year-old brother play baseball.
For the sake of clarification, the brothers’ father’s name is Carlos Correa and their mother, of German heritage, is Sandy Oppenheimer. It is common in Puerto Rico for children to use the surnames of both parents, as Jean Carlos does and Carlos Javier chose not to.
Correa had made the three-to-four hour drive (depending on traffic) to Fort Myers from Kissimmee where the Houston Astros have their spring training and rehabilitation facility, and where Correa is completing a nearly four-month rehab assignment.
He had not been seated for long when he was approached by PG vice president of player personnel David Rawnsley, and when Correa asked him what he was up to, Rawnsley answered, “I’m just trying to find the next Carlos Correa, I guess, but there never will be another one like you, Carlos.”
Correa thanked him and continued with his personal status update before turning his complete attention to his little brother.
Correa, progressing rapidly through the Houston Astros’ minor league system after being selected with the No. 1 overall pick in the first round of the 2012 MLB First-Year Player Draft, was playing in High-A Lancaster in the California League on June 21 when he suffered a serious injury.
He was sliding into third to complete a triple when he had a spike get caught somewhere near the base, a fluke happening that resulted in a broken fibula and some minor ligament damage in his right leg.
At the time, Correa was hitting .325 with six home runs, six triples, 16 doubles, 57 RBI and 20 stolen bases and seemed poised for a promotion to Double-A Corpus Christi as a 19-year-old third-year guy. Instead, he has spent nearly four months in Kissimmee.
“I’m almost done with my rehab … and it’s going pretty good,” Correa said. “I’m running already, I’m taking ground balls, I’m hitting; I’m doing all the baseball stuff. Now I’m just trying to get back into baseball shape.”
And he’s also getting an opportunity to watch his kid-brother player ball, and it’s difficult to tell who is more thrilled with that circumstance: little brother or big brother.
“My relationship with my brother is just like a very close family,” Jean Carlos said, his English not as fluent as his older brothers’. “Whenever we are separated (it seems like) we are all together. He is always calling me and asking me if I’m OK or I need something. He is always asking my family if we need anything or if we need any of his help.”
The brotherly love couldn’t be any more obvious; they wear it on their sleeves like some sort of EvoShield protective gear.
“We’re very close,” Carlos Correa said of his little brother. “Even though I’ve been out of Puerto Rico for a long time because of baseball we talk every single day and he lets me know how he’s doing. When I go back to Puerto Rico he does almost the same workouts as I do; he has a good work ethic. I saw it from my father, so I work hard every single day, and now he’s seeing it from me.
“But we’re really close and we like the same stuff: he likes video games and I like video games and we play every once in a while. It’s a good relationship that I have with him.”
Carlos Correa’s rocket-ship ride up the class of 2012 prospect rankings is still talked about in PG inner circles. One of his first appearances was at the 2010 PG WWBA Underclass World Championship with games at Terry Park but he first drew attention to himself as a 16-year-old at the Perfect Game World Showcase, also held at Terry Park.
He performed at both the 2011 PG National Showcase and the 2011 PG All-American Classic before capping his career right back here at the 2012 World Showcase in January of that year as a 17-year-old – five months before the MLB amateur draft
He wowed the scouts by hitting a couple of long home runs to left-center at Terry Park Stadium both during BP and game-action, and also set an event record with a 97 mph throw across the infield.
“It’s emotional, man; it’s very emotional,” Correa said of his return to Terry Park. “I was telling my parents that the first showcase I had here (2011 PG World) and the last showcase that I had here (2012 PG World) were the ones that made me, being here with the top players in Perfect Game. It’s emotional to be out here; I remember the home run I hit here a couple of months before the draft.
“It was crazy and my family was very happy and it just feels great to be back here and get the chance to watch my little brother go out and play.”
Jean Carlos is not nearly as far along physically as his older brother, but he has a great teacher and role model to help him achieve whatever it is he decides he wants to achieve.
“I’ve practiced with him always and I go to the games with him,” Jean Carlos said “If I do something bad he always tells me to my best and he’s always supporting me. I always try to do the same things that he does.
“He is an inspiration,” the younger brother continued, getting that look of adoration in his eyes that only a younger brother can get when talking about an older brother he idolizes. “I think that he will be like Derek Jeter – he’s a good person inside the ballpark and outside the ballpark – he’s the greatest person.”
A graying PG reporter couldn’t help but remember how well Correa interacted with the young cancer patients during the 2011 visit to Rady Children’s Hospital in San Diego as part of the PG All-American Classic players’ activities. At the time, Correa talked enthusiastically about his young siblings back home in Puerto Rico and how much he loved being around them.
“The weird thing is I don’t get nervous when I play but I get more nervous when I see (Jean Carlos) play,” he said Saturday. “Sitting in the stands and watching him play is kind of hard, but here we go, here we go. He has a great work ethic and I think he’ll be a great player. I want him to go to college first but we’ll see what happens.”
After being selected with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2012 draft, Correa spent that summer at two different Rookie League stops as a 17-year-old. As an 18-year-old he played in 117 games at Low-A Quad Cities in the Midwest League, where he hit .320 with nine home runs, 33 doubles, 86 RBI and 10 stolen bases; that led to his being assigned to High-A Lancaster to start the 2014 season, where he was cruising before the injury.
“I was definitely having a great season – a way better season than last year (2013) and last year was a great season,” Correa said. “Things happen – God has a purpose for everything – but you just have to come back and get ready for the next spring training. All I can ask is that I can still play and I can be the player (the Astros) want me to be.
“I don’t regret anything about my career,” he continued. “I’ve been working hard every single second of my career and I’m trying to be one of the best players out there. The injury was a setback but we’ll back to it next year and hopefully we will stay healthy and have a great season.”
And, in closing, he has a direct message to young Jean Carlos Correa Oppenheimer:
“Every day you learn; you never know everything about the game. You need to improve each and every day and just keep getting better.”