Carlos Correa, a baseball phenomenon from a baseball island.

The US Commonwealth of Puerto Rico has a long, rich baseball tradition, with players like Roberto Clemente, Ivan Rodriguez, Carlos Beltran, Carlos Delgado, Juan Gonzalez, and Bernie Williams hailing from the island.  All of those names, most of which are Hall of Famers or should be, have one thing in common.  None of them were taken first in the Major League Baseball draft.  Carlos Correa, a shortstop born in Santa Isabela, Puerto, Rico, has become the first Puerto Rican taken number one in the MLB Draft.

“This means a lot,” said Correa, who plays shortstop to be like his idol, Derek Jeter.  “We’ve got a lot of good players there.  I feel so excited to be the No. 1 pick.  I’ve worked so hard to be here.”

Interestingly, the highest draft pick ever from Puerto Rico prior to Correa was Juan Castro, who was picked 17th by the Houston Astros.  Correa’s new professional home is the organization of the Houston Astros.  Correa is brilliant defensively and has a great arm, and can easily add weight to his 6’4, 190-pound frame once he reaches the Majors.

Here’s hoping Correa, like Bryce Harper and Stephen Strasburg before him, can make a serious impact at the Major League level.

Image:  ESPN

Tags: Carlos Correa, Houston, Houston Astros, Puerto Rico, sports, baseball, Major League Baseball, MLB, MLB Draft, 2012 MLB Draft, 2012 Major League Baseball Draft, first number one draft pick from Puerto Rico, Juan Castro, Roberto Clemente, professional baseball, baseball draft

I’ve never had a problem eating food from a gas station.  Just two weeks ago, I ate a couple of hot dogs purchased from a gas station.  They were delicious.  That’s not the first time I’ve eaten gas station food, and I doubt it will be the last.  There’s nothing like a fun food novelty. […]

Commissioner Roger Goodell gathered 32 NFL owners for one big question.  One of the league’s most wanderlust-stricken franchises is looking to move again.  The Oakland-Los Angeles-Oakland Raiders, tired of gutting it out in a run-down stadium, were once again looking for greener pastures.  Only the Miami Dolphins refused to cooperate.  With a vote of 31-1, […]

In 2006, an injury to Dallas Cowboys starting quarterback Drew Bledsoe opened the door for an undrafted free agent by the name of Tony Romo to take the helm of America’s Team and lead the Dallas Cowboys to an early playoff exit.  Bledsoe went from starter to afterthought in a season.  Now, the circle continues […]

For 89 years, Oscars has never had a major mistake.  The last few Oscars might have had a few flubs, but at least they never got the most important category of the night wrong.  Well, that’s now changed, all thanks to OG Bonnie and Clyde legends Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway.  When Faye Dunaway called […]

Tom Brady has been wildly successful, if controversial.  He’s the first quarterback ever to win five Super Bowls and only the second player to do so after Charles Haley.  Unlike Haley, Brady won all his Super Bowls with the same team, the New England Patriots.  The only thing that seems to be able to stop […]

Ben Affleck, no matter what you might think of him, is a talented actor and director.  He’s got the goods, but he’s smart enough to know when he’s in over his head.  All along, since he took on the mantle of Batman, he’s had his eyes on writing, directing, and starring as the Caped Crusader. […]

In May, students for the for-profit American College of Education were running into some problems.  Their access to email accounts and course information was locked down by Google, who had disabled their accounts.  The reason why?  A fired IT worker for the American College of Education locked the school out of their Google cloud account. […]