From Esquire

I meet Carlos Correa, the 6' 4", 215-pound, supremely athletic shortstop prodigy, shortly after his big day out at Yankee Stadium, the one where he smashed a 462-foot home run off the siding of the restaurant in centerfield. It was the 21-year-old's second of the day, and it's something he's made a habit of since his call-up to the Houston Astros last June. He hit more home runs in his first 50 (and now 100) games than any shortstop in Major League Baseball history. He won the American League Rookie of the Year Award last season after having played just 99 games.

There are early whispers of an MVP candidacy this season for Correa, along with comparisons to another ferociously strong, strikingly agile oversized shortstop, Alex Rodriguez. Like A-Rod, Correa was drafted first overall at the age of 17-a moment he seemed to be preparing for his entire life. Growing up in Puerto Rico, his parents sacrificed a great deal so he could play for progressively better-and more distant-youth teams. That's paid dividends on and off the field: Having grown up collecting baseball cards, Correa is now the face of Topps' MLB BUNT App, which allows fans to collect and trade digital cards in real time, right as the fireworks go off on the field.

Correa is also one of a number of young phenoms, like Bryce Harper, trying to lead baseball into a new era-one where players' devotion to a staid code of conduct gives way to showing emotion and personality on the field. Harper's "Make Baseball Fun Again" hat was a sort of opening salvo for a movement that fears baseball is falling behind basketball and football because of an unspoken code that the age of social media and Steph Curry has rendered an anachronism. Correa told me all about that-and, of course, about hitting home runs.

You went into the draft straight from high school in Puerto Rico. How did you prepare yourself for that?

My dad and I, and the coaches that I had back home-that I still have, my staff-when I'd go practice in the offseason, we'd work every single day, 7 days a week. Since I was five years old, I'd go to the ballpark every single day. So when I went pro, the transition wasn't as hard, because I'm used to being at the ballpark every single day. So when I got there, it was an easy transition, it was easy to adjust to it.

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Your parents made a lot of sacrifices for your career back home. What does that mean to you now?

I'm a family guy. Family means everything to me. They sacrificed so much in order for me to get where I am today. I will always appreciate what they did for me, and I tell them that every single day. When I accomplish something I always say, "It's teamwork," because me and my family, my staff from back home has been with me me since I was 12 years old. So you know, it's always good to look back at the sacrifices they've made for me to get where I am today.

You were also class valedictorian at your high school.

Of course.

How did you balance that with baseball?

I couldn't go to the ballpark if I didn't finish my homework, if I wasn't done studying for a test. Because I loved baseball so much, I always took care of business in school, and then I would go take care of business at the ballpark.

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