HOUSTON — Astros star Carlos Correa is having second thoughts about jokingly saying he would like to try out for the Houston Texans after an impressive tackle of 5-foot-5 Jose Altuve during a postgame celebration last weekend.
The rookie shortstop, who was the first overall pick in the 2012 draft, attended training camp on Tuesday and watched defensive end J.J. Watt level running back Alfred Blue with a tackle behind the line.
“I saw J.J. with a nice tackle out there and I’m like: ‘Wow, I better quit tackling people,’” Correa said.
Of course, he already had been banned from tackling his teammates. Correa was called into A.J. Hinch’s office on Monday, and the manager lightheartedly asked him to stop the full-body contact during celebrations.
“The rolling around, it’s got to be replaced,” Hinch told Correa. “What happened to the high-five? But we all laughed it off since nobody got hurt.”
Hinch was happy to hear Correa wasn’t interested in tackling after watching the Texans do it.
“I knew he would learn a valuable lesson by going over to see the big boys play,” Hinch said. “Maybe I should have J.J. Watt to tackle him and then he wouldn’t tackle other guys.”
The 6-foot-4 Correa also tossed a football around with Watt — and came to a realization.
“When I’m on the baseball field I feel like the big guy,” he said. “When I’m on the football field I feel like the small guy, I feel like the Altuve here.”
Correa also met fellow No. 1 overall pick Jadeveon Clowney and several other Texans. He said Clowney told him about a short-lived baseball career he had as a child and why he quit.
“He got hit by a ball and he quit playing,” Correa said of the 6-5, 266-pound outside linebacker. “He was like: ‘I can’t hit the guy back. So I would rather play football where I could hit the guy back.’”
Correa does not share that opinion and said he prefers playing baseball so he doesn’t get hit by guys like Watt and Clowney.
“Different perspective. I would rather get hit by a ball than a person,” Correa said.
When told that a couple of weeks ago after meeting Correa, Watt said: “He’s pretty good at baseball, so I think he picked the right one.”
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