'It's just a matter of when': Carlos Correa fully expects to return to Twins

Correa ran his fastest sprints Friday since suffering right plantar fasciitis on July 12.

Minnesota Twins shortstop Carlos Correa (4) throws to first base for an out against the San Francisco Giants during the fourth inning at Oracle Park in San Francisco on July 12, 2024. / John Hefti-USA TODAY Sports

While a timeline for Carlos Correa’s return to the Twins lineup from the injured list remains uncertain, the shortstop is making strides in his recovery from right plantar fasciitis. Correa ran his fastest sprints on Friday since suffering the injury on July 12, and he vowed to return to the team this season. 

Correa said Saturday that he suffered a minor setback earlier in his recovery, which has led him to be cautious not to rush his recovery since then. But Correa described being able to sprint on Friday as “very encouraging” and that he feels like “we’re on the right track” in his recovery process.

Correa said his sprints on Friday were at about 80% speed.

“I want to get back in there,” Correa said. “That’s the only expectation I have right now to get healthy and get back on the field and keep doing our thing as a team. I think as a team, I feel like we have what it takes to go out there and win, but I want to be a part of that, so I’m focusing really hard and I’m trying to get healthy and get back with the team.” 

Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said Correa has continued to make steady progress in his recovery and that he’s been doing more each and every day. But Baldelli didn’t have any further update beyond the small daily degrees of improvement and said anything else would just be speculation. 

“It’s going to be when he’s capable of doing all baseball activity at game speed he’ll be back,” Baldelli said. “Is he close to doing all of those things? I think so. But he’s not there at this moment, so we just keep trying to get him better each day.” 

Correa said his sprints on Friday were with shoes on, so his next step would be ramping up to sprinting with cleats on. He said that’s coming soon and would be a significant step that would allow him to work on other baseball activities. Correa is yet to run the bases, which would come after that.

Correa said his pain varies, but indicated it was more severe than what he played through last season.

"Last year, with the pain that I had, I could manage," he said. "The time that I've been down after the procedure we did in the break, I'm not able to play. It's just impossible for me to just go out there and give 20-30%, it's not gonna happen the way I was feeling. So like I said, it's trending in the right direction, and hopefully it keeps going that way so I can be back out there with the boys."

In 75 games this season, Correa is slashing .303/.377/.520/.896 and has 13 homers and 47 RBIs.

While Correa’s recovery has taken longer than anticipated, he fully expects to return this season. 

“I’ll get back in there,” he said. “It’s just a matter of when.”