The Minnesota Twins played two games on Sunday, but Carlos Correa just needed one to continue burying critics who claimed he was overrated.
First was an anonymous poll that listed Correa as the third most overrated player in the league. Then came a tweet from Twins beat writer LaVelle E. Neal calling out Correa’s lack of offensive production as a reason he’s not living up to his $200 million contract.
Ever since those two things happened, Correa has been on an MVP-level tear.
As he said last year when he was being criticized, it seems these two callouts were fuel in his Ferrari as he’s zoomed out to the king of historic offensive pace Twins fans haven’t seen in years. He became the tenth player in franchise history to record 22 or more hits over a ten game span, joining icons like Kirby Puckett, Tony Olivia, and Joe Mauer.
Over this last stretch, Correa is hitting an absurd .550 with four home runs and .888 OPS. In the last seven games he’s cranked out a 1.502 OPS and continued to dominate on Sunday afternoon against the Oakland A’s.
Carlos Correa is building an MVP case out of criticism that was thrown his way
It’s almost hard to not feel bad for Athletic’s starter JP Sears, who was merely a pawn in Correa’s game on Sunday. Correa faced Sears three times, hitting two home runs and adding an infield single to his day.
Who made Carlos Correa mad? 🤯🤯🤯#MNTwins #MLB #WeBelieveInTC pic.twitter.com/EezC25vAol
— Bally Sports North (@BallySportsNOR) June 16, 2024
Correa had a tough season last year at the plate, slumping hard over the summer months and sinking so low that he was booed at Target Field. He embraced that criticism from fans, using it as motivation to start living up to their expectations of him.
This lastest swipe that folks tried to take at him clearly had a similar impact, except it might have unlocked a new version of Correa Twins fans haven’t seen before. Forget just the All-Star Game, Correa is legitimately putting together an MVP case right now and will firmly be in that conversation if he can keep this up.
It’s also no coincidence that Correa’s offensive explosion is correlating with another winning streak for for the Twins. We saw last year in the ALDS how valuable Correa’s leadership is, as it could have been argued that he earned every penny of his contact by resetting the brain chemistry of the entire franchise.
The run he’s on right now, though, is exactly why the Twins brought him in. His production, combined with the leadership he has in the clubhouse, is making his $200 million deal look like a steal and the critics who have been calling him out look absolutely foolish.
It’s all glorious to watch.