A-Rod: Correa belongs in Big 3 with Harper, Trout

With retirement now on his radar, New York Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez is naturally reflecting on the state of baseball, and believes the game is good in hands with three blossoming superstars - Mike Trout, Bryce Harper, and Carlos Correa - taking the majors by storm.

Considered one of the premier shortstops in the game during his prime, along with Derek Jeter and Nomar Garciaparra, Rodriguez was especially blown away by Correa's outstanding rookie campaign last year.

"I think Carlos is in a class by himself," Rodriguez told ESPN's Andrew Marchand. "When you look at the Big Three in baseball, you look at (Bryce) Harper. You look at Mike Trout. You look at Carlos. My god, the game is in such great hands with those three young men.

"They're world-class talents and they have potential to be in the Hall of Fame - all three will be first-ballot Hall of Famers - but they are also incredible kids. They say the right things. They are smart. They all handle themselves well. They all speak their minds. I'm a huge fan of them. As a fan, my window is running out here pretty quick. I'll be watching those guys for the next 20 years."

Correa hit a solid .279/.345/.512 with 22 homers and 68 RBIs in 99 games upon his promotion to the bigs, helping him easily capture American League Rookie of the Year honors. He doesn't yet own an MVP award like Trout and Harper, but the future certainly looks bright for the 21-year-old phenom.

A-Rod is considering retirement following the 2017 campaign when his contract expires with the Yankees, but he won't slip out of the spotlight just yet. The embattled slugger is in pursuit of several major-league records as he embarks on his 22nd season, most notably his ascent up the all-time home run list.