Minnesota Twins star Carlos Correa left Friday evening’s game in the third inning. The Twins quickly announced that the star shortstop has been diagnosed with a right oblique strain, according to Do-Hyoung Park of MLB.com.
Minnesota announcing the oblique strain within 20 minutes of the two-time All-Star suffering the injury seems ominous.
The Twins don't the seriousness, yet even Grade 1 oblique strains (the lowest severity) typically lead to multi-week absences.
Correa has started all 11 of Minnesota’s games. He’d gotten off to a hot start despite an 0-2 showing against Tarik Skubal this evening. Correa has picked up 11 hits and eight walks through his first 44 plate appearances, running a .306/.432/.444 batting line. That was a promising first couple of weeks on the heels of an uncharacteristic down year. He’d turned in a slightly below-average .230/.312/.399 slash last season, the first of his six-year, $200M free-agent deal.
Willi Castro came off the bench to handle shortstop Friday night. He’s one option to man the position if Correa does miss time. Kyle Farmer can play shortstop but has already been pushed to a regular third base role by Royce Lewis’ early-season quad strain. The Twins don’t have many natural shortstops on the 40-man roster. Austin Martin hasn’t played there in the minors since 2022, while depth infielder Yunior Severino has almost no shortstop experience. Top prospect Brooks Lee, who is not yet on the 40-man, has been on the minor league IL all year.
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