Those that have seen him in person in AAA, how does Pena look in the field? Does his glove-first reputation stand up? He's putting up Correa numbers at the plate in AAA so far. Really impressive. The consistent straight-away/opposite field pop is also really impressive. Less than 10% chance of this happening, but if both Meyers and Pena are future stars up the middle....that would be really something. Basically would set us up for world series contention through at least 2024.
When I saw him he didn’t get challenged that much but certainly looked fine on the plays that came his way. He was billed as an elite defensive SS out of the draft so I’d be really surprised if he wasn’t at least an above average defensive SS.
This dude Pena really born on the same day as Correa just 3 years later? September 22nd. Will be interesting to watch him develop. Hope he is legit if Correa leaves.
He is a long term shortstop and his glove isn't going to be a concern..... he is going to be above average and possibly better. He hasn't lost any real range or mobility with the muscle he has added. He is a workout freak that is really on top of modern fitness and made sure he added lean and strong muscle and core strength. He didn't take the Richard Hidalgo route of hitting just the bench 4x a week.
2023 POSITION STARTERS OF 27 Siri (Replaces 36 Brantley if he decides to retire) OF 27 Myers OF 28 McCormick 1B 27 Tucker (Replaces 39 Gurriel if he decides to retire) 2B 33 Altuve 3B 29 Bregman SS 25 Pena DH 26 Alvarez C 25 Lee Replaces 36 Maldenado who moves to mentor backup) 25 Diaz SL or callup. BENCH UT 25 Pedro Leon IF 23 Nova DH Dawson PITCHERS STARTERS SP 29 McCullers SP 29 Valdez SP 26 Javier SP 28 Urquidy SP 25 Whitley RELIEF RP 26 Solomon RP 25 Brown RP 28 Dubin RP 27 Ivey It's a start I'd personally like to see 40 Verlander here and effective. Maybe even retire as an Astro with 4 or 5 WS. I wouldn't mind seeing if he can be another Nolan, but this time staying with the Astros.
Starting to wonder if they shouldn’t hold Pena out of the Dominican Winter League; he looks ready and no sense in risking an injury over there.
I would play him personally if he wants to play. He is playing fantastic but he really hasn't played a lot of professional baseball the last few years and could use the reps.
I said that elsewhere yesterday and caught hell for it. If anything I would rather see him in Arizona and finish up early.
Yeah, too bad he really started to lift after that point or he may have been a hall of famer. Steroids and poor training.
MLB.com has Pena power at a 40, what’s the new number based on his recent performance I’d say minimum 50 possibly higher. With that being well improved I really see him having above average tools across the board, hard to not dream on his potential. Side note, expecting next year to be one of the most exciting years for prospect call ups with the top 4 all expected to make debuts. Almost feel greedy expecting at least 2 to be stars.
Probably a 50. A 55 grade would mean 25+ homers, and while he may be on a tear, he's not a home run hitter.
Altuve (currently sitting on 30 homers) was not considered a home run hitter by anyone when he was in the minors. He says working on his core in the weight room was the difference. That is exactly what Pena did during the covid shutdown.
So you think Jeremy Pena is a 30 home run hitter just based on this run he's had based on Altuve who was an elite hitter before he started hitting 20+ home runs?
I don’t know how many homers Pena will end up hitting in the big leagues… but what I do know is that the power is clearly there now, he has been going opposite field for deep homers. He is being fooled some and still hitting the ball out. So I can’t tell you what the frequency will be but I can tell you the bat speed, power and carry on the ball is there to hit a lot of homers now… and only a few years ago he didn’t have any of those traits.
