The Houston Astros wanted to re-sign shortstop Carlos Correa in the offseason.
They made an effort to bring him back.
However, they weren’t going to do it at any cost.
The reason behind their reluctance to match each and every offer is because they felt they had a worthy replacement waiting in the wings.
Jeremy Pena is the name of that replacement, and as it turns out, he has been everything the organization had hoped for, and then some.
Pena is not the defender that Correa is (the latter won the Platinum Glove award in 2021), but more than holds his own at the shortstop position.
Offensively, he is also a worthy replacement, or at least that is what his performance so far tells us.
He hit another home run on Monday to secure Houston’s 3-0 victory against the Seattle Mariners.
All aboard!
Jeremy Peña catches a train with his fifth homer for the @Astros. pic.twitter.com/2acTDh0ckH
— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) May 3, 2022
A Serviceable Shortstop With Potential
Pena is not lighting the world on fire, but he is hitting a serviceable .215/.292/.468 with a .760 OPS.
That number figures to rise once he is fully caught up with major league pitching.
One of the most impressive parts of his game is his evident game power.
He has three doubles, a triple, and five home runs through Monday, good for nine extra-base hits.
He also has 14 runs scored and 12 RBI.
As the Astros’ offense gets better overall, Pena should be able to get more comfortable and see better pitches at the plate.
In the meantime, Correa, who signed a lucrative deal with the Minnesota Twins, is struggling to hit for power these days.
He is slashing .256/.322/.329 with a homer and a .651 OPS in the early going.
He will, like Pena, get better, but the tradeoff for the Astros hasn’t been so bad considering Pena’s $700,000 salary in 2022 and comparing it to Correa’s $35.1 million earnings this year.
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