Astros promote Carlos Correa to majors

The youth movement in baseball will gain another stud prospect on Monday, as the Astros have announced that they will promote shortstop Carlos Correa to the major leagues. Correa will join the team in Chicago tomorrow.

Correa, who was selected by Houston as the first overall pick in the 2012 draft, joins Kris Bryant, Addison Russell, Joey Gallo and Noah Syndergaard as the next highly-touted prospect to make his debut this season. Correa will likely replace Marwin Gonzalez as the Astros' starting shortstop after hitting .332/.404/.602 with ten home runs in 52 games with Double-A Corpus Christi and Triple-A Fresno so far this season.

Correa, 20, was ranked by Baseball America as the fourth-best prospect in baseball before the season, trailing only Bryant, Russell and Twins' outfielder Byron Buxton. The 20-year old has been ranked among the top thirteen prospects in baseball in each of his first three seasons, compiling a .313/.392/.491 line in 281 games since being drafted out of Puerto Rico in 2012.

Correa signed a significantly under-slot deal with the Astros in 2012, earning a bonus of $4.8 million despite the $7.2 million value tied to the first overall pick. The decision to free up money for other picks in the draft allowed Houston to draft big-league starter Lance McCullers and prospect Rio Ruiz in what shapes up to be one of the most productive drafts in team history due to the potential of Correa, McCullers, Ruiz, Preston Tucker, Brett Phillips and Nolan Fontana.