A Cubs scout laughed and said he still dreams about the time Carlos Correa took batting practice at Wrigley Field. It definitely sounded like a joke, but in the middle of the 2012 season — Theo Epstein’s first running baseball operations on the North Side — the franchise could only sell dreams, hopes and promises to Cubs fans and the Chicago media.
Correa symbolized the future as a 17-year-old shortstop out of the Puerto Rico Baseball Academy. A group of Cubs officials watched Dale Sveum, the manager at the time, throw to Correa, who hit balls into the bleachers after a game in late May.