Astros Shortstop Breaks Out With Career Year, Earns Top-50 Spot On Mlb Network's Top 100 Players

Jeremy Pena entered 2025 pinch questions astir his bat. He'd been a coagulated defender and a .271 profession hitter done 3 seasons. Useful, but acold from elite. By season's end, nan Houston Astros shortstop had blown past those expectations.

MLB Network placed Pena astatine No. 49 connected its Top 100 Players Right Now rankings successful mid-January. It's nan first clip nan 28-year-old has cracked nan apical 50. His 2025 numbers showed a subordinate who yet unlocked nan violative imaginable scouts saw erstwhile Houston drafted him successful 2018.​

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Pena slashed .304/.363/.477 pinch 17 location runs, 20 stolen bases, and 62 RBI successful 125 games. His .840 OPS much than doubled his erstwhile profession precocious of .715 from his 2022 rookie year. He earned his first All-Star action and received AL MVP votes contempt missing clip pinch a fractured rib and oblique strain.

He posted 30 doubles while cutting his strikeout complaint to a career-low 17.1 percent and swiped 20 bases successful 22 attempts. His 38-point jump successful batting mean from 2024 caught attraction astir nan league. The mobility was really he'd done it.​

Swing Changes Made nan Difference

Pena worked pinch hitting coach Alex Cintron to cleanable up his mechanics. He eliminated excess activity successful nan container and adjusted his positioning astatine nan plate. He besides trained pinch erstwhile Astros shortstop Carlos Correa successful Houston complete nan winter, picking up tips connected staying speedy to nan shot while remaining aggressive.​

Starting much unfastened successful his stance helped him grip wrong fastballs. His slugging percent against heaters jumped from .378 successful 2024 to .555 successful 2025. The improved sheet subject showed up crossed nan board. His pursuit complaint dropped to 35.5 percent and his locomotion complaint accrued from 3.8 percent to 6.4 percent.​

His exit velocity reached nan 90th percentile for nan first clip while his tube complaint besides improved. Pena's expertise to propulsion nan shot successful nan aerial reached a profession high, helping him station individual bests successful location runs and extra-base hits. The shortstop's profession year gave Houston 1 of baseball's astir complete players astatine nan position.​

What It Means Going Forward

His breakout play had different use beyond nan ranking. The timing couldn't person been amended for Pena's wallet. He settled connected a $9.475 cardinal net for 2026 done arbitration, much than double nan $4.1 cardinal he earned successful 2025.

Extension talks sewage analyzable past summer. The Astros were closing in on a five-year, $105 cardinal woody earlier Pena hired ace supplier Scott Boras. Boras halted negotiations. General head Dana Brown has said the squad isn't looking to move him.​

Pena remains nether squad power done 2027. Free agency looms up of nan 2028 season. Some regression seems imaginable fixed nan jump successful his violative production. But if he maintains moreover 80 percent of his 2025 output, he's group up for a monolithic payday erstwhile he hits nan unfastened market.

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