Spring Training is finally here, and with it comes the promise of a new season that hopefully ends even better than the last one did for the Minnesota Twins.
It's hard to top snapping a 19-year postseason losing streak, but the monkey is officially off the Twins' back. The could is gone, sunshine is starting to peek through, and despite a lack of offseason movement things are looking up.
Specifically, things with Carlos Correa seem to be as good as they've ever been since he joined the Twins back in 2022. What started as a surprising one-year deal has turned into a relationship that could see Correa play the remainder of his career in Minnesota.
He's entering his third year with the Twins and it's shaping up to be his best. Correa battled injuries the last two seasons, but he fought through it to not only help the Twins finally win a playoff series but he showed in Game 2 of the ALDS why Minnesota gave him $200 million.
That leadership has only grown since then, and it's helping set the stage for the upcoming season.
Carlos Correa sends perfect message to Twins as Spring Training begins
Correa arrived in Fort Myers this week to begin Spring Training and made sure to send a message to both his teammates and fans that sets the exact tone everyone wants to hear.
“I’m feeling good," Correa said. "I’m very excited for what’s to come this year. It’s a team that’s very young, but got enough experience last year for us to believe that we can do it against any team. I’m excited to get started.”
There's so much to love about that, not the least of which is that Correa continues to look and sound completely healthy. Part of the Spring Training fun is seeing footage of players getting back to twork, and Do-Hyoung Park shared one of Correa in the batting cage that suggests he's all the way back.
Carlos Correa has reported to camp and is getting to work in the cages. Has talked about having spent this offseason working on a more compact swing that he feels good about. pic.twitter.com/ny0jzQBPzC
— Do-Hyoung Park (@dohyoungpark) February 15, 2024
A big HECK YEAH to seeing that.
Correa battled through plantar fasciitis last year, both forcing writers to learn how to spell that from memory and hampering his offensive production. He went through a rough slump over early months of the season, something the entire Twins offense suffered through, but managed to turn things on later in the year.
Now it seems the Twins are going to get as healthy a version of Correa as they've seen yet.
On top of that, Correa continues to settle in as the leader of the clubhouse. We saw that on full display with how he guided the team through the AL Wild Card and ALDS, places he's been before and had success that Minnesota hasn't. While the season ended shy of a World Series, Correa showed the type of leadership the team didn't know it needed until he provided it.
Spring Training has only just begun, and a long season of twists and turns is ahead, but already the vibes are starting to feel exactly right and Correa is out in front leading that charge.