Carlos Correa’s ankle recovery surges ahead, and he won’t rule out a 2026 return for Astros

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HOUSTON (AP) — Carlos Correa’s recovery from surgery to repair a torn ankle tendon is progressing quicker than expected and on Saturday the Houston Astros' star infielder didn’t rule out a return this season.

Correa was expected to miss the entire season after undergoing on his left ankle on May 11. But he is already doing everything except hitting, sparking hope that he could be back on the field sooner than expected.

“We’ll see,” he said when asked if he could play again this year. “I wouldn’t be doing all this work if I didn’t think there was a chance.”

After Correa was injured while taking swings in the batting cage, a timeline of six to eight months was given for his recovery. Manager Joe Espada said Saturday that Correa is ahead of schedule but knows that he still has a long way to go before he can return to the lineup.

“I’m just happy that he’s out here moving around and he actually looks really good,” Espada said.

The 31-year-old Correa said he's running at 80-90% and that he has a doctor’s appointment scheduled for Tuesday where he hopes to be cleared for hitting.

“I’m in a really good spot, a really good spot,” he said. “I don’t feel it. I’ve been progressing to running and sprinting and everything feels great.”

Houston has won nine of 10 games to vault into first place in the AL West and that has given Correa some extra juice as he eyes a return.

“The way we’ve been playing lately definitely motivates me even more to go out there, put in the work to try to make it back,” he said.

Correa isn’t surprised that he’s doing so well because of the plan he put together as soon as he was injured.

“I got on this protocol and I started looking for all the information I could into how to speed up the process and the things that I needed to eat and how I needed to sleep, the type of treatment I needed” he said. “And we’ve been doing a great job with that, so we’re in a good spot.”

Correa, who is back with the Astros after last summer’s blockbuster trade from the Twins, played third base for Houston last season with Jeremy Peña at shortstop. Before his injury this season he returned to shortstop while Peña was out with a hamstring injury.

Correa has salaries of $31.5 million this season, $30.5 million in 2027 and $30 million in 2028. As part of the trade, the Twins will pay the Astros $10 million each Dec. 15 from this year through 2028.

Correa was hitting .279 with three home runs and 16 RBIs this season. The No. 1 pick in the 2012 amateur draft, Correa spent his first seven seasons with the Astros before signing with the Twins where he spent 3 1/2 seasons before last summer’s trade.

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