Dugout Dish

If you followed along with the Milwaukee Milkmen in 2020, you know the name Christian Correa. The 27-year-old catcher has spent time in Minor League Baseball and Independent Baseball during his career. Dugout Dish had the opportunity to interview Correa in the offseason about his baseball career and the future.

Dugout Dish: How long have you played baseball? Was there a key moment in your life when you fell in love with the game?

Christian Correa: I started playing baseball when I was eight years old. Honestly when I went to my first Marlins game at the old Hard Rock Stadium. I saw the big league field and the players – I knew I wanted to be like them.

DD: Did you always know you wanted to play professional baseball?

CC: I don’t believe I thought about it honestly until my senior year of high school when scouts started coming around and especially in college. I started thinking about it more once I received more interest from being scouted.

DD: How long have you played professional independent baseball?

CC: This past year was my third second after I was released from the Houston Astros organization in 2017. I signed with the Kansas City T-Bones and then was eventually picked up by the Colorado Rockies in the same year. I lost the whole year due to an illness and went back to playing for the T-Bones. I ended up being traded to the Sussex County Miners.

The Miners ended up winning the championship in 2018 while I was a part of the organization. And luckily, this year, I had the chance to play with the Milwaukee Milkmen and win another championship.

DD: How did 2020 and COVID-19 affect your skill set and season?

CC: I think I was well prepared – I had my hitting coach back home and we worked a lot during the quarantine. I do think it was a lot more tough because it was not a full season. I hit the ball very well this season and honestly, my average doesn’t really show how well I did.

Mike Dobre from Game Day Academy in South Florida also helped me during the pandemic to stay in shape. I believe my strengths remained the same despite the season being cut short. Last season, I led the league in CS% with a 42%. I tried to repeat it this year and came close with a 32%.

DD: Did you have a favorite moment from playing with the Milkmen this summer?

CC: My favorite moment honestly has to be when we clinched and when we were able to celebrate as a team. When we won it all, it was an amazing feeling because you can feel that you actually did something. Personally, one of my favorite moments came when I hit a walk-off home run against the St. Paul Saints. I had never hit a walk-off home run before that night. It was awesome!

DD: Do you have a favorite all-time memory while playing?

CC: My favorite all-time memory so far while playing is getting to represent my heritage with the Colombian National team. I was able to represent them in the Pan American games in Lima, Peru. For me to have the opportunity to represent my family and my blood – it was a very special moment for me.

DD: Moving forward, where do you see yourself and your baseball career heading?

CC: I would love to play in Mexico or get picked up by an affiliated team again. I’m realistic though and see the game is getting younger and I’m getting older. I would absolutely love to be able to spread my knowledge and possibly get into coaching down the road.

I had a few college offers so we shall see! But truly, I love baseball and I always will. It has given me so many opportunities from going to college to playing professionally. I just want to return as much as I can to the game as it gave me.

You can follow Christian Correa on Twitter @chrisbaseball7 and on Instagram. Special thanks to Christian for taking time out of his day to answer my questions.

(Photo Credit: Christian Correa/Instagram)