AL DIVISION SERIES: ASTROS VS WHITE SOX

October 6, 2021

Carlos Correa

Minute Maid Park

Houston Astros

Workout Day Press Conference

Q. Carlos, can you put into words what this journey has been like in 2015 when this whole thing started and where you are now and how this team has continued, even though the faces have changed along the way, continues to pursue the highest level of baseball?

CARLOS CORREA: Yeah, it's been an unbelievable journey, honestly. Coming to the team, like you said, 2015. Before then, we were a losing organization, and now everybody expects us to be in the playoffs every single year come 2021.

It's been a great journey. We've grown together as a team in that club house. We've gotten better together. It's a reason why we accomplished so much in this sport and why we're in the playoffs this year again.

We're losing 111 games one year, and now that's not the case anymore. That tells you about the hard work in the front office. That tells you about the hard work in the club house. I'm talking about players and coaches. So really proud of what this organization has been able to accomplish.

Q. Carlos, you've been around so long now, I'm curious, I look at you and some other guys, like even Kyle, like how young you all looked when you first came up and you're obviously like men now. How would you say you've grown the most, or what would you say is most different about you now from when you first started?

CARLOS CORREA: Obviously, with the experience you acquire, you get more vocal, and you try to help your teammates out a little more, not only in the regular season, but also in the playoffs. That experience that some of the young guys are going to go through now, they know they can always come to me and we can talk about it. The little butterflies you feel in the first playoff game and how to handle the pressure and the loud noises from the fans so you can still go out there and still perform.

I'm always going to be there for them. Now being one of the leaders of the team, we talk, and I make sure they're ready for these big moments.

Q. Carlos, I wondered what do you like best about this team this year?

CARLOS CORREA: I like this team, one, we're a family in there. Everybody gets along. Everybody's together. Everybody's on the same page. We all want to win. We all work like we want to win. Then just the talent. When you look at the talent on paper, it's unbelievable. From the starting rotation to the bullpen now, the lineup was the best in the league.

I love everything about this team. There's nothing I dislike. I think we're built for a championship, and we've just got to take care of business for us to accomplish that.

Q. I know you're acutely aware of players at your position around the league. What do you think of Tim Anderson? What do you think of him as a player?

CARLOS CORREA: I think he's a great player. He's a great hitter. Bat-to-ball skills are unbelievable. Always putting the ball in play, elite athlete. Yeah, I see him as a great player, especially he plays shortstop, so I see him as a great one.

Q. Carlos, you played for Dusty now for almost two full years. What do you take the most out of it -- in 20 years from now, what are you going to tell people about Dusty Baker?

CARLOS CORREA: Just the relationship that I've been able to build with that man has been special. From the moment he got here, he didn't have it easy. He had to deal with a lot, especially that Spring Training 2020. He loved us from the moment he met us, and he had our backs from the moment he met us. So for me, that truly means a lot.

Coming from a different team, he had no part of what happened in the past. He still was there for us every single second of the way. And also the stories that he's got, he's got so many great stories that I'm going to tell my kid. He's a great manager, but an even better human being. I'm grateful that I got to meet him and work with him.

Q. You talked about being one of the veteran leaders for the younger guys. At what point do you think you went from being one of the younger guys to one of the leaders of the team?

CARLOS CORREA: I just turned 27, and that might be young for a lot of people, but just being in this club from day one when we're not a winning club and just growing up with the guys like Altuve and Lance and all the guys that came to this organization, and they just give you that role at some point.

It's not like I asked for it, but the players come to me. So I always want to have an answer for them. So that's why I prepare myself. That's why I learn about stats and I know about the game. I try to manage the game in my head also every single time we're out there. So every time they come to me, I have the right answers for them every time.

Q. What is it about Maldonado that has made him so indispensable the last couple years?

CARLOS CORREA: Yeah, Maldy is very special, and he does things that don't show up in the box score. For example, last year, I always tell the traveling secretary to room me next to him when we're on the road because I like to sit down with him and talk shop and talk baseball. He's a very smart baseball guy.

We were going to face Oakland, so I go to his room and say what are you doing? He's on his computer, and he said, I'm doing a scouting report on this team. I said, what have you got? They beat us all year in the regular season. This was 2020. He said, after three days of doing scouting report from the moment we won in Minnesota and we waited and traveled to L.A. to face them, he spent three days, at least four hours a day on that computer doing a scouting report, and at the end of the scouting report, he said, they're not going to beat me this time. I've got the scouting report down. We're going to beat them. I said, are you sure? The ball flies in that ballpark. And he said, yeah, I got the scouting report down.

Then we went out there and won the series in four games. Those are things that you don't see in the box score. Those are things you don't know. But when we're all on the plane and we're all sleeping, he's doing a scouting report on the city. Even though the team gives us a scouting report, he does his own to make sure everything is right. I think that's what makes him so valuable to our team. Calling pitches is very important, and he's the best at that.

Q. Carlos, you have maybe led the way in the reaction that's evolved and changes during playoff baseball. Big hit, involve the crowd, that's kind of swept through the game, and people love it. Why is that important to you just to engage the fans? And then how important is it to kind of maximize that home field advantage in the playoffs?

CARLOS CORREA: Yeah, it's really important especially because for me I feed off their energy. When the fans are being loud and you're in the middle of an at-bat and you're focusing on that at-bat, you feel the energy. I completely feed off of it. I focus even more.

When we're home, we obviously want to win. We don't want our fans to be quiet. We want them to be loud and cheering for us all the time. So in order for us to do that, we've got to play good, clean baseball, and that's what we plan to do this series.

Q. Carlos, you talked about Dusty, the person really, the man. Can you talk about him as a manager?

CARLOS CORREA: The guy has been around the game for, what, 50 years or so. He knows it all. I mean, he's seen it all. He's been through it all. He's always ahead of the game. So if you see, whenever I'm playing, I'm sitting next to him and trying to pick his brain. Why are you doing this? Why are you doing that? I want to learn the game as much as possible. What better guy to learn from than Dusty Baker that's been around for so long? So, yeah, he's that guy.

Q. Carlos, when you look at the White Sox, do you see any similarities between them and your team, not only in this year, but your teams of a couple of years past?

CARLOS CORREA: Yeah, I do. Their starting rotation is pretty solid. Their bullpen is also solid. A lot of people say pitching wins ball games. I think defense wins ball games. We've been playing great defense all year long. You have great pitching, the ball gets put in play and you don't finish that play. They don't have to record 27 outs. They have to record maybe 30.

I think defense, pitching, and then the offense comes if you want to win championships. So it's all about this series the team that plays the cleanest, the team that plays for 27 outs and don't give those extra outs, if you want to win this series.

Q. Carlos, how have you managed to compartmentalize and push what may happen going forward to the side to have the kind of season you've had this year?

CARLOS CORREA: For me, it's about taking it day by day. I prepare in the off-season, preparing in Spring Training to have this type of regular season. That's why I bet on myself, and I knew I was ready. I knew I was healthy. So just taking it day by day, focusing on that stuff, focusing on helping my team win. When you're unselfish like that, things are going to work out fine.

Q. This is kind of a similar question to Mark's, but from what I can tell right now, you have three really major things going on in your life between the series that's coming up, you've got a child on the way, obviously pending free agency after however this ends. How are you processing all of it? How do you, like Mark said, compartmentalize? I guess not to get in your head, but like in your little downtime, like where does your mind go?

CARLOS CORREA: I see it all as positive. I see it as a great thing. I'm at a point in my life now where I'm happy, and that's how I live my life based on doing things that make me happy. Playing baseball makes me happy. Spending time with my family makes me happy. I'm going to be a father, so nothing will make me happier than this.

This is playoff baseball. This is where I want to be every single year come October. I'm happy that I'm part of this great organization of the Houston Astros, and I'm focused on winning another championship. So I'm doing things that make me happy right now. It cannot get any better.