'My swing sucks right now': Amid struggles, Twins' Correa says he's healthy

Carlos Correa, the Twins' highest-paid player by a wide margin, is off to a brutal start to the 2025 season at the plate. After going 0 for 12 in Minnesota's three-game series against the lowly Chicago White Sox this week, Correa is slashing just .167/.222/.274 across an increasingly not-tiny sample size of 24 games and 90 plate appearances. Prior to Thursday's game, his OPS+ was 47 (with 100 being the league average).

Given his track record of offensive production over his ten previous MLB seasons (career 125 OPS+, including an elite 151 mark last season), it's been reasonable to wonder if Correa is dealing with any sort of injury that's limiting his effectiveness. He did leave a game against the Mets earlier this month with "left wrist soreness," then didn't start the following contest.

But no, health isn't the issue for Correa, he told reporters (viaThe Athletic's Dan Hayes) after Thursday's rain-shortened loss to the White Sox. The three-time All-Star gave an honest and self-deprecating answer when asked if he was dealing with anything injury-related.

"I'm dealing with my swing sucks right now," Correa said. "That's the only thing I'm dealing with."

Whether that's encouraging news or actually more concerning is open to fans' interpretation. But if Correa is indeed healthy, one would assume that his offensive output will revert towards career norms sooner or later. He's a .273 hitter with a lifetime .820 OPS, and even the worst full season of his big-league career — a .230 average and .711 OPS in 2023 — would be a major improvement from his current production.

Correa doesn't feel like he's that far away from hitting like himself.

"I don't feel too far off," he said. "It's not like I'm going out and striking out three times a night. There's been some good contact, some good ABs. It's just the consistency is not quite there and that's what we're trying to find."

He's right about the strikeouts; Correa has 14 of them in 90 PAs for a 15.5 percent K rate that is well below the league average. He isn't whiffing much, and his bat speed is still excellent (as, it should be mentioned, is his defense at shortstop).

But the quality of the contact he's making hasn't been good. Correa, who has grounded into six double plays already — the second-most in baseball — has a lot of blue on his Baseball Savant page. His expected numbers are better than the actual ones, but not by a ton. Correa's expected slugging percentage, average exit velocity, and hard-hit percentage are all in the 31st percentile or worse. That's a bit alarming, even if the calendar still says April.

Correa is making $37.3 million this year in the third year of a six-year, $200 million contract. That's more than Pablo Lopez ($21.7M) and Byron Buxton ($15.1M) combined, and those are the only other Twins players making north of $10 million this season. If Minnesota (9-16) is going to turn around its awful start to 2025, it needs Correa to start hitting like he usually does.

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