Slightly off subject, but is there any requirement that you have to actually write more than an occasional article on baseball to become a member? I say this primarily because listening to 790, supposedly the Astros voice, spends far more time on out of market basketball teams and former Houston football players than the current GOAT Astros. Are these kind of guys now the heart and soul of Baseball Writers?
The kid gets moved all the way up the the 2 spot and doesn't flinch. In fact he's flourishing. Kid is special.
Looking at the first page of the thread, I would say Pena exceeded expectations. Could take the next step in the off-season if he improves on pitch selection and laying off that slider.
So he’s gonna end up around .250/.285/.415 with 21 HR, 11 SB, 100 wRC+, and 3.1 fwar, but probably 5th in ROY. He’s hit for more power and been more valuable on defense than I expected which is good, but he’s walked less and had a lower babip than I expected. He’s also played more (I predicted 393 pa, he’s gonna finish closer to 550). The playing time is the biggest difference in value between what I predicted and what actually happened. All in all he’s been good and profiles to be an average to above average everyday SS. And I think there’s potential for improvement. I still think Willy Adames makes for a good comp.
Pleasantly surprised that his K% rate didn't end up being much of a problem at all. 24% ain't great but its plenty good enough to keep getting AB's.
Yep. But a 4% bb rate is too low, and a babip <.300 isn’t great either. If he can have better swing decisions then he can take his game to a higher level. He has the power/defense combo of a potential star player.
I will say that Peña exceeded my expectations. I thought for sure, he’d of gotten sent down at least once due to figuring out adjustments; but Peña chugged along amidst some funks but he didn’t fold. i would not have thought it out of the question, he’d of ended up with a sub .225 BA and perhaps 12 HR’s. But he looked every bit a legit MLB player
I heard on the telecast that the Astros are something like 54-7 when he bats in the 2-hole (or in front of Yordan)? Im sure someone can confirm
OPS is back up to .709. More importantly he has only struck out in 16% of his PA going back to September 9 (87 PA), with .280/.314/.524 slash over that period. Was the brutal stretch around August an adjustment period that's now in his rear view mirror, or is he just streaky. The Pena we saw for the other 80% of the season was a quite productive bat, and still with room to grow if he can walk a little more. Regardless, 4.5 bWAR, and over 3 fWAR is a resounding success. It's not Pena's fault that team has been getting such poor production from 4 other positions, 2 of which are extreme bat first spots.
Strictly based on dWAR frpm Baseball Reference, there are a few surprises. Altuve -1.2 Gurriel -1.0 Mancini -0.8 and until very recently Bregnan who just made it back to 0.0 after being below average most of the season defensively. These are all players who have been good or very good defensively in the past.
