Busy winter of conditioning has pain-free Correa optimistic

MINNEAPOLIS – If the Twins are going to reach their goals in 2025, few things are more important than Carlos Correa's health. The three-time All-Star put together one of his best seasons in 2024 on a per-at-bat basis, but he missed the majority of the second half of the year as he dealt with plantar fasciitis in his right heel.

With three weeks remaining before Spring Training, Correa likes what he’s feeling.

“I feel great,” Correa said Saturday at Twinsfest. “I’m ready to go, full go for Spring Training. I’ve been sprinting. I’ve been running around. I’ve been doing about everything. I’ve been focused on not only just treatment but also strengthening, a lot of walking barefoot around the house now. So all that’s helping work on my toes and all that. So I’m in a really good spot.”

Correa was selected as an All-Star in ’24 thanks to an outstanding first half, but skipped the game due to the injury. He didn’t play again until Sept. 14, by which time the team’s late-season funk was already well under way. He was as effective at the plate after his return as he had been before, but it wasn’t enough to arrest the slide.

However, he and the club have expressed significant optimism regarding his 2025 prognosis.

“Carlos is in a great spot right now,” Twins president of baseball operations Derek Falvey said Friday. “Our hitting coach [Matt Borgschulte] just went down and saw him, said he’s in midseason form right now physically.”

It was the second year in a row that Correa dealt with the painful condition. In 2023 he battled plantar fasciitis in his left heel. However, as 2025 approaches, he’s not feeling any discomfort in either foot. And he’s taking extensive measures to help prevent any additional recurrence.

That includes things like making sure his footwear is sufficiently supportive and being choosy about the surfaces he runs on, as well as working on strength and flexibility.

“It’s more like maintenance now,” he said. “Like I did when I hurt my back, back in 2018. You hurt an area of your body and then you focus on strengthening that area, and then you stay on it every single day. So now the foot has become part of my routine.”

That means the focus can be on baseball. Correa has been working at his home in the Houston area and getting ready to head to Fort Myers, Fla., for camp. The hope is that it all adds up to a Correa who is as effective as he was in 2024, and as durable as he’s been in years.

“I’m full go,” he said. “I’m hitting. I’m taking ground balls. I’m running and sprinting, change of directions. I can do everything that I usually do in the offseason to get ready for a full season.”