MLB Daily: Astros Call Up Carlos Correa; CC Sabathia, Joe Girardi Flip Out

Welcome to MLB Daily on a Monday. The fun starts here …

Welcome to the Show: Big news broke late Sunday that the Astros are calling up 20-year-old shortstop Carlos Correa, considered the best prospect in the game. Correa, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2012 draft, hit .335 with 10 home runs across 53 games at Double A and Triple A. His 34 extra base hits were the most in the minors this year. By all accounts, Correa is ready to contribute at the big league level.

Here’s Astros GM via the Chronicle:

"“We really feel like he can help our club right now win ballgames,” Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow said of Correa. “We’ve scuffled a little bit in these last few days, and we feel like Carlos gives us the best chance to win. We want to keep our division lead and we want to win this division. We think he’s a big part of what we can do.”"

Houston is in the midst of a four-game losing streak, but are still 34-24 and 3.5 games ahead of Texas in the AL West. If the Astros were middling around .500 or worse, perhaps the team would have waited a bit to bring up Correa and tinker with service time and all that, but that’s fortunately not the issue. Houston wants to win in 2015 and Correa presents the best chance to do so. Simple.

Will Luhnow continue this approach as we zero in on July 31? Would Houston consider trading from its well-stocked farm system to try to acquire Cole Hamels or rent Johnny Cueto for the stretch run? The Astros starting pitching behind Dallas Keuchel isn’t much to write home about, pending how many innings it can get from rookie Lance McCullers Jr. Monday the team also called up Vincent Velasquez, a Top 100 pitching prospect and he’ll start later this week.

Speaking of the draft: Per MLB.com, the Arizona Diamondbacks know who they’ll take No. 1 tonight — but haven’t told anyone outside the organization. The consensus is there isn’t a can’t-miss, surefire No. 1 player tonight, and speculation is centered on Vanderbilt teammates Dansby Swanson and pitcher Carson Fullmer along with high school catcher Tyler Stephenson. The Arizona Republic links the D’backs to nearly a half-dozen players, but focuses mostly on Swanson, a shortstop.

New No. 1: Gerrit Cole, the 2011 No. 1 pick, improved to 9-2 yesterday with an NL-best 1.35 ERA in a 116-pitch shutout of the Braves in Atlanta. The game featured some angry feelings since Cole hit Freddie Freeman and Andrelton Simmons with fastballs. Later, Braves’ starter Alex Wood got ejected for arguing.

Per Dejan Kovacevic, batters are 0-for-7 against Cole this season with the bases loaded.

It’s worth remembering that Cole initially was drafted by the Yankees, but he decided to turn down their offer and attend UCLA instead. Three years later he went No. 1 overall.

Mad: CC Sabathia and Joe Girardi went nuts arguing with homeplate ump Dan Bellino in the Yankees 6-2 win over the Angels. This is about as angry as you’re going to see a player and a manager at an umpire.

The anger stemmed from a ball/strike call earlier in the inning, as the lefty questioned the umpire. Said Sabathia, via the New York Post, “After I got tossed, I wanted to get my money’s worth.”

Sabathia pitched fairly well after giving up back-to-back homers to Mike Trout and Albert Pujols in the first. The Yankees are now on a six-game winning streak, which matches their longest losing streak of the year, too.

So yeah, Chris Archer remains great, which is even more important for Tampa since Jake Odorizzi is going to miss time with an oblique injury.

Highlight reel: Salvador Perez hit a go-ahead homer for the Royals in the eighth vs. the Rangers, but KC remains a game behind first-place Minnesota. The laughing on the Royals broadcast as the ball cleared the fence seems about right.

Chris Colabello hit a game-winning single for the Jays vs. the Astros, which extended his hitting streak to 17 games and the Toronto winning streak to five. The win was set up when Jonathan Villar collided with Jose Reyes, but the umpires didn’t call interference to the dismay of Astros manager A.J. Hinch.

This & That: The Red Sox put up a seven-spot in the bottom of the eighth to beat the A’s. … The Tigers bats woke up in hitter-friendly U.S. Cellular Field, taking the final two of three from the White Sox. David Price went the distance on Saturday to help end an eight-game skid. … Clayton Kershaw allowed one hit over eight vs. the Cardinals Saturday night. … Ken Rosenthal ran a piece Sunday about the MLBPA wanting more protective netting behind the plate, after the fan being hit by the broken bat in Fenway this weekend.

[End note]