Carlos Correa To Undergo Season-Ending Ankle Surgery
The hits keep coming for the Astros. Brian McTaggart of MLB.com reports that third baseman/shortstop Carlos Correa will require season-ending surgery to repair a left ankle injury. Correa was scratched from last night’s game and subsequently reported to have suffered a potentially major ankle injury. He was in the clubhouse today on crutches.
Correa himself told reporters in Houston that he suffered a torn tendon in his left ankle (video link via McTaggart). The requisite surgery to repair the injury will sideline him for the next six to eight months. (Notably, that’s not the ankle that caused enough medical concern to scuttle a pair of major free agent deals a few offseasons back.) As Correa explains, it was a freak incident:
“I was hitting in the cage — normal day, feeling great. I went through my whole routine, took a swing, and felt a pop. It just completely snapped on me, and then I fell to the ground, couldn’t put weight on it. Just a normal swing, but I felt a loud pop. I heard it. I felt it. I knew right away something was wrong.”
With Correa’s season over, the Astros will entrust shortstop to Nick Allen and Braden Shewmake for the time being. Both are light-hitting defensive specialists, though Shewmake took Shohei Ohtani deep for a go-ahead home run last night. Star shortstop Jeremy Peña is on the mend from a hamstring strain and will reclaim everyday shortstop work once healthy. Peña’s return would have pushed Correa back to third base, but the hot corner will now be manned by Isaac Paredes moving forward, with a resurgent Christian Walker at first base, Jose Altuve at second base and Yordan Alvarez at designated hitter.
Correa is the latest in a dizzying line of major Astros injuries. He joins not only Peña but Hunter Brown (shoulder strain), Josh Hader (biceps tendinitis), Yainer Diaz (oblique strain), Jake Meyers (oblique strain), Tatsuya Imai (arm fatigue), Cristian Javier (shoulder strain), Joey Loperfido (quad strain) and Taylor Trammell (groin strain) as Astros to suffer new injuries this season. The ‘Stros are also still without pitchers Ronel Blanco, Hayden Wesneski and Brandon Walter, all three of whom underwent UCL surgery during the 2025 season.
Suffice it to say, the 2026 season hasn’t gone according to plan. Houston’s 15-22 record is the fifth-worst in Major League Baseball. Long-term absences for key players like Correa, Brown, Hader and Peña have conspired to dig an early hole from which they’ll be hard-pressed to climb out. The pitching, in particular, has been egregiously bad. Houston not only ranks last in the majors with a team-wide 5.65 ERA — they’re 64 points north of the 29th-ranked D-backs, who sit at a collective 5.01. The bullpen’s 6.20 ERA is the highest in MLB by nearly a full run over the 29th-ranked Angels (5.35). The rotation’s 5.13 ERA ranks 29th, narrowly leading Arizona (5.20).
The 2026 trade deadline is still just under three months away, but the mountain of injuries and a dismal pitching performance thus far makes it hard to envision the ‘Stros recovering — even with Alvarez and Walker combining to create one of the more formidable lineup duos in the game. The Astros will face some tough decisions at this year’s deadline, due not only to the current state of affairs but also an increasingly concerning long-term outlook that doesn’t create much optimism.
[Related: The Astros’ Ominous Long-Term Outlook]
As for Correa, he’s still signed for another two seasons beyond the current year. He’ll earn $30.5MM in 2027 and $30MM in 2028, though the Twins are paying $10MM per year (2026-28) as part of the trade that sent Correa and more than $70MM of his remaining contract back to Houston. His six-year, $200MM deal also contains a quartet of vesting club options valued at $25MM, $20MM, $15MM and $10MM, spanning the 2029-32 seasons. Those options can vest based on the total plate appearances Correa logs in the immediately preceding season.
Daniel Johnson Elects Free Agency
Daniel Johnson elected free agency after being outrighted by the Astros, according to the MLB.com transaction log. Houston designated him for assignment on Monday when they recalled Zach Cole from Triple-A.
Johnson appeared in eight games, collecting two hits and walks apiece over 17 plate appearances. The lefty-hitting outfielder has appeared in parts of five MLB seasons but has fewer than 200 career trips to the dish. Johnson owns a .191/.249/.306 line with five home runs in 75 games, striking out at a 28% clip along the way.
The New Mexico State product began this year with the Marlins on a minor league contract. Johnson didn’t get to the Majors with Miami but spent a couple weeks in the bigs with Houston given their need for a left-handed hitting outfielder. He’s a .255/.321/.448 hitter in nearly 1800 plate appearances over parts of seven Triple-A campaigns.
Carlos Correa Believed To Have Suffered Significant Left Ankle Injury
Carlos Correa is believed to have suffered a significant left ankle injury, reports Brian McTaggart of MLB.com. He’ll visit a foot specialist tomorrow to narrow down a diagnosis and recovery timeline. McTaggart writes that he’ll be out indefinitely and could miss weeks or potentially months.
Correa was injured while taking batting practice before Tuesday’s game against the Dodgers. The Astros scratched him, moving Nick Allen from third base to shortstop while drawing utility infielder Braden Shewmake into the lineup at the hot corner. Shewmake wound up hitting a solo home run off Shohei Ohtani that proved the difference in a 2-1 Houston win.
It’s the second consecutive day in which the Astros lost a key player during pregame batting practice. Catcher Yainer Diaz strained his oblique while warming up on Monday and is also going to miss some time. He went on the injured list on Tuesday morning.
The Astros will presumably provide more information on Correa within the next few days. The three-time All-Star has battled injuries in both feet over the past few years. Plantar fasciitis and a muscle strain in his left foot hobbled him in 2023. He missed most of the second half of the ’24 season with plantar fasciitis in his right foot.
Injury concerns famously scuttled two of Correa’s agreements during his 2022-23 free agent trip: both a $350MM deal with the Giants and a subsequent $315MM agreement with the Mets. Those were both related to team medical personnel having concerns about Correa’s right ankle, not the one which he injured tonight.
That’s of little solace to a Houston team dealing with yet another significant injury. Correa becomes their fourth regular position player — alongside Diaz, Jeremy Peña and Jake Meyers — on the injured list. They’re also without starting pitchers Hunter Brown, Cristian Javier and Tatsuya Imai plus closer Josh Hader.
Peña, down since April 12 with a right hamstring strain, could start a minor league rehab assignment this week. Correa had been the regular shortstop in his absence. Allen, a light-hitting defensive specialist, will man the position in the interim. Losing Correa means the Astros will stick with Isaac Paredes as the everyday third baseman. Christian Walker is enjoying a resurgent season at first base, while Yordan Alvarez is mostly at designated hitter.
The infield depth, at least once Peña returns, is the only silver lining. Houston unsuccessfully tried to move Paredes or Walker over the offseason to alleviate the logjam, but they essentially haven’t been at full health for the entire season. Even before the hamstring injury, Peña had battled a fingertip fracture on his right hand that he suffered during the World Baseball Classic.
Houston reacquired Correa from the Twins last summer, taking on a little over $70MM on the remaining three years of his contract. He hit .290/.355/.430 over 51 games down the stretch and was out to a .279/.369/.418 start to this season. Although he’s not the power threat he was at his peak, Correa remains an above-average hitter and quality defender at either position on the left side of the infield when healthy.
Astros Designate Dustin Harris For Assignment
The Astros announced a series of roster moves prior to tonight’s game. On the position player side, they reinstated infielder Nick Allen from the 10-day injured list and recalled infielder/outfielder Zach Dezenzo from Triple-A. In corresponding moves, they placed Yainer Diaz on the 10-day IL with a left oblique strain and designated outfielder Dustin Harris for assignment. The Diaz move was reported yesterday. On the pitching side, they recalled right-hander Jason Alexander and optioned fellow righty Ryan Weiss.
Harris, 26, was claimed off waivers a little more than two weeks ago. At the time, the Astros needed some help in the outfield. Dezenzo and Jake Meyers were both on the IL already. Joey Loperfido was also banged up and landed on the IL the next day. Zach Cole was on the IL in the minors.
Since being claimed, Harris has stolen four bases and been solid in the field but produced a tepid .226/.286/.290 line at the plate. That’s a small sample size of 11 games but it roughly matches his general profile. Harris is considered a speed-and-defense guy who isn’t likely to provide much with the bat. He has a .225/.307/.371 line in his big league career. His Triple-A line of .276/.366/.417 looks pretty solid but most of his time at that level has been in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League, so the line actually translates to a 101 wRC+, barely league average.
Both Cole and Dezenzo have now gotten healthy, which has squeezed Harris off the roster. Harris spent most of the past few years with the Rangers but exhausted his final option season in 2025. Texas outrighted him off the roster at the end of last season. He elected free agency and signed a minor league deal with the White Sox. He got a brief stint on Chicago’s roster before being put on waivers and claimed by Houston.
He now heads back into DFA limbo, which can last as long as a week. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so Houston could take five days to explore trade interest, though they could also put him on the wire sooner than that. If he clears waivers, he has the right to elect free agency since he has a previous career outright.
The Weiss option is also a notable development, since he was an interesting part of their offseason. The Astros needed rotation depth but had budgetary concerns. Weiss got a major league deal with a $2.6MM guarantee. He came into this year with no big league experience but had just finished a good season in South Korea. He made 30 starts for the Hanwha Eagles last year with a 2.87 earned run average, 28.6% strikeout rate, 7.7% walk rate and 48.5% ground ball rate.
If Weiss were able to put up similar numbers in North America, he could have been a sneaky bargain, but that has not panned out thus far. He has logged 26 innings in a swing role this season with a 7.62 ERA. His 22.9% strikeout rate is around average but he has walked 15.3% of batters faced, almost double league average. He’ll look to get back on track in Triple-A and could get another look with the Astros later in the year if he succeeds.
Photo courtesy of Jamie Sabau, Imagn Images
Astros To Place Yainer Diaz On Injured List
A left oblique injury will send Astros catcher Yainer Diaz to the 10-day injured list, manager Joe Espada tells the Houston beat (relayed by Chandler Rome of The Athletic). Houston called up César Salazar this evening with Diaz unavailable, so they probably won’t bring up another catcher when the IL stint is finalized tomorrow.
Zach Dezenzo and Shay Whitcomb — the latter of whom was optioned tonight as the corresponding move for Salazar’s selection — are the only healthy position players on optional assignment to Triple-A. Teams ordinarily cannot recall an optioned hitter for at least 10 days, but an exception is made when they’re called back up to replace an injured player.
Diaz will be the sixth hitter to land on Houston’s injured list. He joins Jeremy Peña and Jake Meyers as regulars who are out of action. They’re also down six starting pitchers — including three of their projected top four arms in Hunter Brown, Tatsuya Imai and Cristian Javier — and have been without closer Josh Hader all season.
The injury continues what has been an ugly start for Diaz. The 27-year-old has been one of the better offensive catchers in MLB over his three-plus seasons. His numbers gradually trended down each year from a fantastic rookie campaign, though, and he has really struggled offensively through the first six weeks. Diaz is hitting .248/.264/.356 with a pair of home runs through 106 plate appearances.
One of the most aggressive hitters in the league, Diaz has always had a low on-base floor. He has generally hit for solid averages and ranked fourth among catchers (behind Cal Raleigh, Shea Langeliers and Salvador Perez) with 59 homers between 2023-25. Diaz’s ground-balls are up and his hard contact rate way down in the early going.
It’s nevertheless a sizable hit to Houston’s lineup. Christian Vázquez has hit very well (.316/.371/.491) in the early going, but he had one of the game’s lightest bats in each of the last three seasons. The Astros are surely pleased with what they’ve gotten from Vázquez’s minor league contract. Still, he’s probably miscast for a primary catching job at this stage of his career. The Astros have given Salazar limited MLB opportunities over the past few years.
Espada didn’t specify a timeline for Diaz’s return. There’s a wide range of outcomes on oblique injuries depending on the severity of a strain. Even moderate strains tend to cost hitters a few weeks to a month.
Astros Select César Salazar
The Astros are selecting catcher César Salazar back onto the big league roster, reports Brian McTaggart of MLB.com. Infielder Shay Whitcomb was optioned to Triple-A Sugar Land in a corresponding move. Houston opened a spot on the 40-man roster this afternoon when they designated outfielder Daniel Johnson for assignment.
Salazar’s promotion is spurred by what appears to be a minor injury for starting catcher Yainer Diaz. He’s out of tonight’s lineup with a left abdominal issue. The Astros haven’t placed him on the injured list but seemingly want to stay away from him tonight. Christian Vázquez draws into the lineup against the Dodgers and Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Salazar provides some insurance as a reserve catcher.
Unless Diaz eventually needs an injured list stay, it’ll probably be a brief stint on the roster for Salazar. He’s out of minor league options and was designated for assignment at the end of Spring Training when Houston opted for Vázquez as their backup catcher. They surely don’t have any regrets about that decision, as the veteran is out to a .333/.390/.519 start to his age-35 season.
Salazar appeared in 36 MLB games as Houston’s third catcher between 2023-25. He’s hitting .193/.333/.281 with one home run over 19 games with Sugar Land this season. The 30-year-old has a solid reputation for his glove and work with a pitching staff but isn’t likely to be much of an offensive threat.
Astros Designate Daniel Johnson For Assignment
The Astros announced that outfielder Daniel Johnson has been designated for assignment. His roster spot goes to fellow outfielder Zach Cole, who has been recalled from Triple-A Sugar Land in a corresponding move. Chandler Rome of The Athletic was among those to pass along the news.
Johnson, 30, was added to Houston’s roster a couple of weeks ago amid a flurry of outfield injuries. Jake Meyers, Joey Loperfido and Taylor Trammell all hit the injured list in the middle of April, sapping the Astros of many of their best center field options. Cole was on the minor league injured list at the same time and wasn’t an option to help out.
Unfortunately, Johnson wasn’t much of a help. He got sent to the plate 17 times and produced a tepid .143/.294/.143 slash line. Brice Matthews, meanwhile, has largely taken over the center field job. Matthews’ .221/.289/.412 line isn’t amazing but it’s much better than what Johnson has been providing. Matthews has been receiving solid grades for his defense and speed as well. Now that Cole is healthy again, he’s been called up with Johnson bumped off.
Since Johnson is out of options, he had to be removed from the 40-man roster. He’ll be in DFA limbo for a week at most. The waiver process takes 48 hours so Astros could take five days to explore trade interest but they could also place him on waivers sooner if they so choose. He has been previously outrighted in his career and would therefore have the right to elect free agency if he is outrighted again. His speed and defense give him some appeal but a career batting line of .191/.249/.306 is obviously unattractive.
Cole was called up last year and flashed some fun upside, hitting four home runs in just 15 games. However, he also struck out in 38.5% of his plate appearances. He started this year on optional assignment and suffered a broken toe after just a few games. Now that he’s recovered and there are opportunities in the outfield, he will try to earn some playing time, ideally with fewer punchouts.
Photo courtesy of Jamie Sabau, Imagn Images
The Astros’ Ominous Long-Term Outlook
In case you're just tuning into the 2026 season, things aren't going great in Houston. The Astros escaped with a split in a doubleheader with the Orioles yesterday despite allowing a combined 15 runs in those games. They enter play Friday sitting on a 12-20 record. Houston's bullpen has been far and away the worst in baseball, due in no small part to star closer Josh Hader's lengthy stint on the IL to begin the season. Bryan Abreu went from arguably the game's best setup man to a low-leverage middle reliever in short order; his fastball is down more than two miles per hour, and his ERA sits just shy of 13.00. Veterans Enyel De Los Santos and Steven Okert were low-cost pickups last year who played big roles. Both have regressed (and then some) in 2026.
Meanwhile, a rotation that brought in several new arms this winter has only been marginally better. Again, injuries have played a role. Ace Hunter Brown is out with a shoulder strain. Offseason pickup Tatsuya Imai, a star righty in Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball, struggled before hitting the IL with arm fatigue. Cristian Javier is sidelined into at least June with his own shoulder strain. Ronel Blanco and Hayden Wesneski are still on the mend from 2025 Tommy John surgery. Neither is expected back before the All-Star break.
The lineup has at least provided good production. Houston hitters are batting .265/.346/.438 as a team. A disproportionate amount of their production has come from slugger Yordan Alvarez, who's decimating opposing pitchers at an MVP-caliber clip, but he's not alone. Christian Walker has more than just righted the ship after an awful start in 2025 -- he's arguably hitting better than he ever has before. Jose Altuve and Carlos Correa have been comfortably better than average at the dish. Isaac Paredes has found his stride after a slow start himself.
Even on this side of the ball, however, the 'Stros have had challenges. Jeremy Peña has been limited to just 10 games thanks to a pair of injuries (broken finger, hamstring strain). Jake Meyers looked solid through a dozen games before an oblique strain sent him to the shelf. The reacquired Joey Loperfido was solid through 20 contests before straining his quad. In recent weeks, Houston has regularly trotted out lineups including players like Braden Shewmake, Daniel Johnson and Dustin Harris, each of whom was acquired simply because the club needed warm bodies and lacked depth.
That's a symptom of a much larger and more concerning trend in Houston -- one that calls into question the club's outlook well beyond the current season.
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AL West Injury Notes: Imai, O’Hoppe, Montgomery
Astros right-hander Tatsuya Imai landed on the 15-day injured list on April 13 with what the team called right arm fatigue, but he is progressing well in his rehab. Imai is set to throw a bullpen session tomorrow and could begin a minor-league rehab assignment as early as Tuesday, manager Joe Espada told Chandler Rome of The Athletic and other media. [UPDATE: Imai will indeed start his rehab assignment Tuesday with Double-A Corpus Christi, as per MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart.] Although the exact nature of his arm fatigue isn’t clear, the team is surely hoping he’ll be back sooner rather than later.
Imai signed a three-year, $54MM deal with the club over the offseason, which fell below industry expectations for the former Japanese star. He has had a rough beginning, allowing seven earned runs and 11 unintentional walks in just 8 2/3 innings over three starts. That’s a very small sample, of course, and there is still plenty of time for Imai to establish himself as a big-league starter. For the Astros, the big picture concern is the fact that so many of their starting pitchers are injured right now. Hunter Brown and Cristian Javier are both out with Grade 2 right shoulder strains and won’t return for another 4-6 weeks. The struggling pitching staff, which has a 5.97 ERA overall, is the main reason the club is out to a 10-18 start in 2026.
A couple other injury notes from the AL West:
- Angels catcher Logan O’Hoppe was removed from today’s game due to left wrist irritation, the team announced. O’Hoppe took a foul ball off his wrist and finished the inning after being visited by the trainer. Travis d’Arnaud took over behind the plate in the eighth. O’Hoppe is now in his third season as the club’s starting catcher, though he has not been a productive hitter since 2024, when he posted a 102 wRC+ in 522 plate appearances. He declined in 2025, posting a mere 72 wRC+, and has been about the same to start 2026. It is unclear whether O’Hoppe will miss any time. Given the wrist irritation is in his receiving hand, the club might opt to play it safe for the next few days to avoid compromising his defense. He and d’Arnaud are the only catchers on the 40-man roster, so any absence might motivate the team to scour the waiver wire for a depth option.
- Rangers left-hander Jordan Montgomery threw a bullpen session today and will have at least one more before progressing to face live hitters, according to Shawn McFarland of the Dallas Morning News. Based on that, he seems to be on track in his recovery from March 2025. Montgomery signed a one-year, major-league deal with the Rangers in February, with the expectation that he would start the year on the 60-day injured list before returning later in the season. His last season as an effective starter was in 2023, when he was worth 4.2 fWAR in 32 starts between the Cardinals and the World-Series winning Rangers. Now 33 and coming off an extended absence, he won’t be expected to replicate that upon his return. In the best case for Montgomery, he could slot in as a back-end arm if Jacob deGrom or Nathan Eovaldi gets injured or one of Kumar Rocker and Jack Leiter underperforms.
Photo courtesy of Joe Nicholson, Imagn Images
Astros Reinstate Bennett Sousa From Injured List
The Astros have activated left-hander Bennett Sousa from the 15-day injured list, according to Matt Kawahara of the Houston Chronicle. Fellow lefty Colton Gordon is being optioned in a corresponding move.
Sousa ended 2025 on the injured list with left elbow inflammation and has been out so far in 2026 due to a left oblique strain. The erstwhile waiver claim broke out as a key reliever for Houston in 2025 before the elbow injury. In 50 2/3 innings across 44 appearances, Sousa had a 2.84 ERA and struck out 29.6% of opposing hitters. His performance was no fluke, as Sousa’s 2.88 xERA and 2.72 FIP were close matches for his bottom-line numbers. He is still a pre-arbitration player and won’t reach free agency until 2030, so he is valuable from a contract standpoint as well.
Sousa’s return gives Houston a third solid lefty reliever to complement Bryan King and Steven Okert. Like Sousa, King did well in an extended look in 2025, posting a 2.78 ERA and strong expected stats in 68 innings. Although he surrendered 10 home runs (1.38 HR/9), he demonstrated pristine control with a 4.0% walk rate and generated plenty of soft contact. Meanwhile, the veteran Okert navigated a drop in four-seam velocity to improve his control and keep the ball in the yard. He allowed six home runs in 71 2/3 innings last year after allowing six in less than half the innings for the Twins the year before.
Having the trio of King, Okert, and Sousa is a boon for a Houston bullpen that is missing its most prized lefty. Closer Josh Hader is currently on the 60-day injured list with left biceps tendinitis and is eligible to return in late May at the earliest. Enyel De Los Santos has recorded three of the team’s six saves in Hader’s absence. A repeat performance from Sousa would go a long way to stabilizing the bullpen, which has struggled overall. Key arms like Bryan Abreu and Ryan Weiss are off to bad starts, and the group’s 5.94 ERA is better than only the Royals.
As for Gordon, the 27-year-old heads to Triple-A where he’ll bide his time as a depth option. The 2021 eighth-round draft pick debuted in the Majors last year but was largely ineffective. Gordon posted a 5.34 ERA in 86 innings across 20 appearances, 14 of which were starts. He also struck out a below-average 19.0% of hitters and surrendered more than two home runs per nine innings. His 5.1% career walk rate is a positive, but not enough to overcome the rest of his profile. Having mostly worked as a starter, Gordon could receive the stray spot start or long relief appearance if and when he gets brought back up.
Photo courtesy of Troy Taormina, Imagn Images