The Houston Astros have seen their reputation tarnished in the wake of their cheating scandal, but that wasn’t enough to stop JC Correa from wanting to one day play alongside his older brother.
Correa, the younger brother of Astros star shortstop Carlos Correa, revealed on Wednesday that he will sign a contract with Houston. The undrafted infielder recently graduated from Lamar University.
“I’ve been wanting to sign for two years now. I’ve been drafted twice [by the Astros]. I have some goals, you know. I wanted to get my degree and now that I got my degree, I will sign and play professional baseball,” Correa told Brian McTaggart of MLB.com. “That is my other goal, to make it to the big leagues. I’ll work harder than I have worked my whole life to make it there. But for me it means to the world to be signing professional.”
Correa had offers from several other teams, but he appreciated that the Astros drafted him twice before and continued to show interest. He also admitted his brother playing in Houston is a significant factor, as JC and Carlos have never played on the same team.
“If I want to play with him one day, that’s the team I want to be on,” Correa said. “I know I can make good things happen and help the team a lot. I’m excited to play for the Astros.”
JC said Carlos is “really excited” about his younger brother joining the Astros organization. Carlos also tweeted that he is proud of JC.
Proud of you @Jc_Correa1 https://t.co/EBVwqWzJvz
— Carlos Correa (@TeamCJCorrea) June 18, 2020
JC Correa was hitting .245 through 14 games as a senior at Lamar this season before the year was cut short due to the pandemic. His junior season was more impressive, as he led the team with a .332 average, 74 hits, 10 home runs, 14 doubles and 44 RBI.
Carlos Correa has been one of the most animated players in defending the Astros against criticism over their sign-stealing system.
