Jeremy Peña was the story of 2025 for the Astros, carrying them to the divisional lead with his career year, appearing set for MVP votes at year end when his year was interrupted with injuries. With him went the Astros’ playoff hopes, as his eventual return was too little too late. Is this improvement here to stay?
Improved Batting Approach
A career year, yes. But Peña’s been putting the changes in motion for a while now. The most significant change to his batting approach has been his change in stance from 2023 onwards, from -2.6 inches behind the front of the plate, to -.5 inches, to 1.6 inches this past season. He’s combined this with taking a more open stance to great effect, as we can see in this comparison between his 2024 and 2025 batting stances.
In 2024, Peña was much more closed off, having his lower body almost perpendicular to the plate. When he made contact, it got driven into the ground. This at bat led to a positive result, but in the long run this approach capped his offensive production.
Contrast this to 2025, and we can see the change he made with his lower body now forward and open (21 degrees open in 2025 vs. 3 degrees open in 2024), allowing him to “square up” on the ball and attack it more aggressively. He’s rewarded with the RBI double.
This lets him pull and get under the ball (Pull AIR % jumped from 15.2% to 21.1% between 2024 and 2025) more consistently, always a good thing with the Crawford boxes at home.
Peña’s also punishing fastballs at career-high levels. In 2025, he’s crushed the most common types of pitches he faces, four-seamers and sinkers, to 216 wRC+ (.681 slg) and 169 wRC+ (.505 slg) respectively.
His performance against offspeed and breaking ball pitches has also hit career highs.
Compare this 2024 ground out to Guardians pitcher Lively throwing a sweeper,
to this 2025 at bat where he rips a homerun against Yankees pitcher Warren throwing the same pitch.
Pretty big difference in results. The only type of pitch he was below average against in 2025 was changeups, but with every other pitch seeing close to career highs in average, slugging, or both it still clearly has paid dividends.
His new approach plays differently by pitcher. With lefties, he’s patient, resulting in a 9.3 BB% to 13.1 K%. Against right-handed pitchers, he attacks, slashing .311/.368/.490 for a 140 wRC+.
The career-long platoon gap? Check the progression. 132 to 82 in 2023. 129 to 89 in 2024. 115 to 140 in 2025. Gone.
His K% (17.4%) staying consistent year over year while almost doubling his BB% (3.8 -> 6.4%) is icing on the cake.
Gold Glove Calibre Defence
Before the offensive breakout, Peña’s calling card was his silky-smooth defence at shortstop. With such a glove at the most valuable position, the Astros knew key outs were locked in.
2024 was a step back. While remaining above-average by most metrics, his numbers weren’t meeting those Gold Glove standards. In 2025, he returned to form, cutting down on errors tremendously (19 errors in 2024, only 9 in 2025), boosting his OAA by 10 and FRV by 9, ranking sixth among all shortstops.
Want a specific example? Compared to 2024 when runners advanced successfully 58% of the time, in 2025 he was a cut-down machine, limiting successful advances to 42%. In fact, name a defensive stat, Total Zone? Eight runs. DRS? Five runs. Pick another? Same story. If that’s not Gold Glove calibre, I don’t know what is. The only reason I’m not highlighting his second as the culmination of this season is his injury leading to fewer innings in the field.
Could’ve been better, too. Peña’s DP and assist numbers were down from career averages. The culprit might be his double-play partner. In 499.1 innings at second, Jose Altuve turned 22 double plays. Mauricio Dubón, in just 318 innings, turned 26. Dubón’s gone, shipped off for Nick Allen this offseason. That means Altuve is more full-time at second, and Peña’s DP numbers likely stay suppressed. But Allen’s a killer shortstop who can slide over to second. If he does, Peña’s Gold Glove case gets a lot cleaner.
That’s almost one fWAR added to his total. It’s clear 2024 was an aberration. This is who Peña is.
Flash in the Pan or New Norm?
I just laid out who Peña is. Do I think Peña will hit .300 every year? No. Pitchers will adapt. But the approach is real, the defense is elite, and I don’t expect him to miss 30+ games again. He’s been healthy his whole career until now. That’s a 5-6 WAR player. Not just a franchise shortstop, an MVP one.
The verdict? Peña’s 2025 is his arrival. MLB is on notice.
