The hits keep coming for the Astros. Brian McTaggart of MLB.com reports that third baseman/shortstop Carlos Correa will require season-ending surgery to repair a left ankle injury. Correa was scratched from last night’s game and subsequently reported to have suffered a potentially major ankle injury. He was in the clubhouse today on crutches.
Correa himself told reporters in Houston that he suffered a torn tendon in his left ankle (video link via McTaggart). The requisite surgery to repair the injury will sideline him for the next six to eight months. (Notably, that’s not the ankle that caused enough medical concern to scuttle a pair of major free agent deals a few offseasons back.) As Correa explains, it was a freak incident:
“I was hitting in the cage — normal day, feeling great. I went through my whole routine, took a swing, and felt a pop. It just completely snapped on me, and then I fell to the ground, couldn’t put weight on it. Just a normal swing, but I felt a loud pop. I heard it. I felt it. I knew right away something was wrong.”
With Correa’s season over, the Astros will entrust shortstop to Nick Allen and Braden Shewmake for the time being. Both are light-hitting defensive specialists, though Shewmake took Shohei Ohtani deep for a go-ahead home run last night. Star shortstop Jeremy Peña is on the mend from a hamstring strain and will reclaim everyday shortstop work once healthy. Peña’s return would have pushed Correa back to third base, but the hot corner will now be manned by Isaac Paredes moving forward, with a resurgent Christian Walker at first base, Jose Altuve at second base and Yordan Alvarez at designated hitter.
Correa is the latest in a dizzying line of major Astros injuries. He joins not only Peña but Hunter Brown (shoulder strain), Josh Hader (biceps tendinitis), Yainer Diaz (oblique strain), Jake Meyers (oblique strain), Tatsuya Imai (arm fatigue), Cristian Javier (shoulder strain), Joey Loperfido (quad strain) and Taylor Trammell (groin strain) as Astros to suffer new injuries this season. The ‘Stros are also still without pitchers Ronel Blanco, Hayden Wesneski and Brandon Walter, all three of whom underwent UCL surgery during the 2025 season.
Suffice it to say, the 2026 season hasn’t gone according to plan. Houston’s 15-22 record is the fifth-worst in Major League Baseball. Long-term absences for key players like Correa, Brown, Hader and Peña have conspired to dig an early hole from which they’ll be hard-pressed to climb out. The pitching, in particular, has been egregiously bad. Houston not only ranks last in the majors with a team-wide 5.65 ERA — they’re 64 points north of the 29th-ranked D-backs, who sit at a collective 5.01. The bullpen’s 6.20 ERA is the highest in MLB by nearly a full run over the 29th-ranked Angels (5.35). The rotation’s 5.13 ERA ranks 29th, narrowly leading Arizona (5.20).
The 2026 trade deadline is still just under three months away, but the mountain of injuries and a dismal pitching performance thus far makes it hard to envision the ‘Stros recovering — even with Alvarez and Walker combining to create one of the more formidable lineup duos in the game. The Astros will face some tough decisions at this year’s deadline, due not only to the current state of affairs but also an increasingly concerning long-term outlook that doesn’t create much optimism.
[Related: The Astros’ Ominous Long-Term Outlook]
As for Correa, he’s still signed for another two seasons beyond the current year. He’ll earn $30.5MM in 2027 and $30MM in 2028, though the Twins are paying $10MM per year (2026-28) as part of the trade that sent Correa and more than $70MM of his remaining contract back to Houston. His six-year, $200MM deal also contains a quartet of vesting club options valued at $25MM, $20MM, $15MM and $10MM, spanning the 2029-32 seasons. Those options can vest based on the total plate appearances Correa logs in the immediately preceding season.
