Twins’ Carlos Correa diagnosed with plantar fasciitis, All-Star Game in question

SAN FRANCISCO — Carlos Correa is looking forward to going to the All-Star Game in Arlington, Texas this week and watching his young sons, Kylo and Kenzo, enjoy all the festivities and meet their favorite players.

Kylo, he said, already has a whole speech prepared for when he meets Yankees superstar Aaron Judge.

“Kylo sees Aaron Judge on TV and he goes crazy,” Correa said. “ … He’s ready.”

But as for actually playing in the game, well, that seems unlikely now that the Twins’ shortstop has been diagnosed with plantar fasciitis in his right foot.

The star shortstop said he would speak with manager Rocco Baldelli about the possibility of playing in the game but that he intended to “listen to the team,” when it came to Tuesday’s Midsummer Classic.

Correa dealt with the same ailment last year, though in the opposite foot, and it affected him for much of the season. But the early word is that this case is less severe.

“I’m going to listen to the trainers and listen to my body and make sure that we’re ready to perform in the second half,” Correa said. “I don’t just want to be a body on the field. I want to be able to perform to the best of my abilities like I’ve done this first half.”

Correa, who finished the first half of the season .308 and leads the Twins with a 3.6 fWAR (Wins Above Replacement per FanGraphs), said he’s been feeling pain in his heel for the last few days. He was scratched from Saturday’s lineup in the hours leading up to the game and went for testing later that day.

He did not play on Sunday and, if he does not play in the All-Star Game, he will have an additional five days off before the Twins return for the second half of the season on Saturday.

“If I would have done things differently, I would have taken more time last year when it started,” Correa said. “I don’t want to make that mistake again where I play through a little discomfort at first and then it gets worse and then my performance kind of dips. It happened right before the break, so it’s perfect timing so I can get my rest and just go and perform in the second half.”

Duran’s velocity spike

After pitching with lower velocity — for his standards, at least — for much of the first half, Jhoan Duran threw six of his nine fastest pitches of the season in Saturday’s game. His velocity climbed all the way back up to 103.9 miles per hour in the outing, which marked his fastest pitch of the season.

His manager had an interesting theory when it came to Duran’s velocity spike.

“It’s the Alcatraz effect. He went to Alcatraz (on Thursday’s off day) … he came back throwing 103.9,” Baldelli said. “That’s normal stuff. You go to Alcatraz, you come back throwing heat.”

All joking aside, Duran said he has been working on his mechanics, which likely lead to the increase. He said he was opening up too early and has taken steps to fix that.

“I’ve been working a lot with (assistant pitching coach) Luis Ramirez and he’s helping me a lot with my mechanics,” Duran said. “I’m more consistent right now. Maybe that’s why I’m throwing hard.”

But, he was willing to entertain Baldelli’s theory, too, joking that he would take a return trip to Alcatraz.

Briefly

The Twins placed Jose Miranda (low back strain) on the injured list on Sunday, as expected, and brought up Diego A. Castillo. To make room on the 40-man roster, they designated pitcher Caleb Boushley for assignment. Miranda’s injured list stint is retroactive to July 11, which means, if healthy, he would be eligible to come off the injured list the day after the All-Star break ends. … Byron Buxton missed his second straight game after crashing into the outfield and hurting his elbow on Friday night.

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