Today I need to anoint Carlos Correa, the Astros all world shortstop and possible 2016 AL MVP, as the “Leader of the New Generation.” Correa is an amazing talent. All the tools and already has his name in the record books alongside legends like Mantle and Dimaggio. While his brief time in the majors has been impressive, I have never been more impressed with Carlos Correa than after reading his recent op-ed for solecollector.com. If you love baseball and/or the Astros, please read this. To give you the reader’s digest version though; Correa talks about how the game of baseball is played with unwritten rules that prohibit players from expressing themselves and keep the game from expanding and adapting with the times. He talks about how the beauty of baseball is hidden because of the old ways and the traditions. How the unwritten rules are hindering this current group of amazing players from becoming the household names they would have been during a more popular time for the sport of baseball.
When you have guys like Trout, McCutchen, Harper and Correa all playing at the same time, in the same era, it is criminal that baseball is considered niche these days. Correa examines this in his article and says that it is his generation’s duty to help baseball progress. Correa and Bryce Harper have been vocal in wanting to grow the sport. They feel a responsibility as superstars which is a breath of fresh air; star athletes taking responsibility and wanting to do something other than line their pockets and grow their own brand. These guys want to spark change. They want to make baseball fun again.
Correa says the future is in their hands and the future can be brighter than ever. I mean, with the talent of today, Trout, Correa, Cutch, Kershaw, Goldschmidt, Kris Bryant, Cabrera and the list goes on an on. There are legends and legends in the making playing at this very moment and yet baseball is still taking a backseat. With football’s future coming into question more and more because of the concussions and the violence, baseball has a chance to make it’s move.
Correa talks about the beauty of baseball and how it needs to be showcased and how the sport can actually be our national pastime again. Revolutions begin by breaking rules. Carlos Correa is the instrument of change breaking these unwritten baseball rules. Carlos Correa is the Leader of the New Generation.
