Astros shock MLB, draft PR-born SS

Pat DeCola | 8:52 AM on June 05, 2012

The Houston Astros have hope.

Unfortunately, that hope could be at least four years away from helping out.

Houston shocked the MLB world on Monday night when they drafted Puerto Rican shortstop Carlos Correa over consensus number-one pick Mark Appel. Correa became the first Puerto Rican player to be taken first overall.

The 17-year-old’s makeup has been compared to Alex Rodriguez (which is both equally good and bad) but his MLB ETA isn’t for another 3-4 years at minimum.

Appel, the right-handed pitcher from Stanford was rumored to be headed to Houston but inexplicably fell to Pittsburgh at eighth overall.

(Also, it should be noted that the last time the Astros had the first pick in the draft, they grabbed Phil Nevin. Five spots later, the Yankees took some shortstop named Derek Jeter. Houston wasn’t going to miss on their franchise shortstop twice.)

Jeff Luhnow called it a last minute decision on taking Carlos Correa first overall

— Jim Bowden (@JimBowdenGM) June 4, 2012

If Carlos Correa is the next A-Rod, going to the #Astros should be good for him. Won't have any World Series pressure. #MLBDraft @NOTSCMLB

— NOTSportsCenter (@NOTSportsCenter) June 5, 2012