When Jeremy Peña entered the Astros’ June 17 game against the Athletics in West Sacramento in an 0-for-11 slump, he knew just how to break it.
After dealing with cold spells plenty throughout the first three years of his career, the Houston shortstop has a new M.O. in 2025 -- one that’s serving him well.
“When he feels like he’s struggling, he goes back to the basics,” Astros hitting coach Alex Cintrón said. “He’ll go back to his approach and all the mechanics that he’s been working on since Spring Training.”
Peña and Cintrón got together during Astros batting practice, hashing out a plan to get the star shortstop back on track. And it didn’t take long.
The next day, Peña broke his 0-fer with a three-hit, two-RBI game. He had two hits on June 19, then went 3-for-4 with a homer on June 20 in Anaheim, playing a key role in the Astros’ extra-inning win.
It was further proof the Astros shortstop has taken a major leap at the plate this year. Thanks to swing changes, a revamped batting stance and improved plate discipline, the 2022 World Series MVP has been among the most valuable players in all of MLB this season.
Peña has locked down the leadoff spot for his club, has helped Houston weather the loss of Yordan Alvarez to injury and has propelled the Astros into first place in the American League West.
“He has become a force for us so far this season,” manager Joe Espada said.
Here’s how Peña has taken his game to a whole new level in 2025.
Stalled progress
It’s hard to consider Peña’s rookie season anything but a smashing success. He hit 22 home runs, accrued 5.0 Baseball-Reference WAR, won the AL Gold Glove at shortstop and finished fifth in AL Rookie of the Year voting. And that was just the regular season. In the postseason, Peña hit .345 with a 1.005 OPS and four home runs, including the go-ahead homer in Game 5 of the 2022 World Series. He was named the MVP of both the ALCS and the Fall Classic.
But Peña posted just a .289 on-base percentage that season, and over his next two years, he never really took a step forward at the plate. Speed, defense and league-average offense at a premium position still made him a valuable player, but he wasn’t a standout hitter on the level of, say, his predecessor, Carlos Correa. He didn’t walk much, rarely barreled the ball and chased pitches out of the zone a lot.
When Peña did find success hitting, it didn’t tend to last.
“I feel like in the past, I’ll be feeling good at the plate and I feel like I can hit everything,” he told MLB.com. “And that’s when you kind of get in trouble because you start swinging at everything.”
According to Cintrón, Peña’s batting stance didn’t help. There were a lot of moving parts: His body rocked back and forth, causing his head to move, and his hands were constantly in motion. It made it hard for the young hitter to home in on pitches, resulting in either whiffs or weak contact.
That’s no longer the case: Peña has eliminated his excess movement in the batter’s box. In 2025, he's standing more than an inch further back in the box than in 2024, allowing him to jump on pitches rather than watch them sail by.
“Now he’s staying more connected,” Cintrón said. “He’s staying behind the baseball more and has a better angle to hit the ball in the air more consistently and hit the ball hard as well.”
Patience and pull power
The overhaul of his batting stance was just part of the effort Peña has put in -- work that’s now paying off in a major way.
In Houston over the winter, he worked out alongside the man he replaced -- Correa, now with the Twins. The veteran had a few things to show his younger counterpart, such as being quick to the baseball on a swing while still remaining aggressive.
“I just kind of picked his brain on what worked for him,” Peña said. “He had a great season last year. He was hitting everything hard.”
During Spring Training, Peña practiced being more selective at the plate -- a quality he didn’t typically display during his first few Major League seasons. His chase rate of 34.5% in 2025 is still high, but it’s the best of his career, and he’s swinging at first pitches less than ever.
Experience has been crucial, too. When it comes to hitting breaking pitches like curveballs and sliders, Peña hit just .233 with a 37.8% whiff rate from 2022-24. This year, he’s hitting .313 against breaking stuff with a 33.2% whiff rate.
“He knows how pitchers are attacking him,” Cintrón said. “He knows they’re spinning the ball a lot, so now he’s trying to go up there with a good approach and hitting the ball to right-center field, middle of the field.”
The results are coming. Peña’s Statcast quality-of-contact metrics, such as expected wOBA and expected slugging percentage, are career bests. His strikeout rate is a career-low 16.0%. He’s stolen 15 bases in 17 tries. And he’s bashed 11 homers, putting him on pace to tie his career-high 22-homer output as a rookie).
That power seems to be driven by Peña’s ability to pull the ball in the air more -- 20.1% in 2025, a career high and a significant improvement over 2023 and 2024 (14.3%).
“I feel like that’s always the outcome you want,” Peña said. “You want to hit the ball in the air. I feel like it’s a result of the other adjustments we’ve made. You can tell yourself you want to hit the ball in the air, but if you’re not doing the right things at the plate, you’re not going to get those results. It’s kind of focusing on, ‘Get into a more repeatable stance, get into a more repeatable swing,’ and going from there.”
Leading man
Even before Peña’s red-hot June, the Astros showed their confidence in him. On April 26, Peña was hitting just .244 with a .695 OPS when Espada approached the young shortstop with some news. Regular leadoff hitter Jose Altuve wanted more time to run into the dugout from his new position of left field so he could prepare to bat. The leadoff spot was open for Peña.
“He was super pumped when I told him that,” Espada said.
It was a daunting task. In 919 career games leading off for Houston, Altuve owned a .303/.365/.478 slash line. Peña knew setting the table for a talented Astros lineup -- and filling Altuve’s shoes -- would be a big responsibility, and he has thrived: Entering Friday, he’s hitting .357 with eight homers and a .947 OPS in 54 games as the leadoff man.
“I think he’s a guy that likes a challenge, likes the pressure,” Cintrón said. “He knew he had to step up for this team as a leadoff guy and he’s got to go out there and be on base for his team. He’s done a really, really good job of that.”
Peña said he liked that as a leadoff man, he’d get more looks at opposing pitchers than anyone else in the lineup. That means more chances to get on base, of course, but also more opportunities to bring critical information to his teammates about what they can expect to see when they’re in the box.
Houston’s offense is already excellent, but Peña knows any help he can provide is much appreciated.
“We have a great lineup,” he said. “Anybody can beat you on any given day. My job would be to get on base and let those guys bring me in."
Getting the job done
Peña is doing more than just getting on base. His .324 batting average, .492 slugging percentage and .871 OPS all lead his team, with his average ranking fifth among qualifying hitters in MLB. He entered Thursday with 4.6 bWAR, second in the Majors behind only Aaron Judge (5.8).
For an Astros team with seven starting pitchers and their star slugger on the injured list, Peña’s production has been crucial. Since May 5, the day Alvarez first landed on the IL, the Astros are 31-17 (.646) -- the best record in MLB. Despite not leading the AL West outright until May 30, they entered Friday with an impressive 6 1/2-game lead over the Mariners. Their shortstop is a key reason why.
“One of the reasons we are in first place right now is because of Jeremy Peña performing consistently all year long,” Cintrón said.
That’s in large part thanks to Peña’s offensive maturation, a task that remains ongoing. For all the strides Peña has made lately, there are still areas he can improve in, such as further cutting down his chase rate, hitting fewer ground balls and handling offspeed pitches better.
Peña said he’s always trying to adjust and improve, but for now, he’s simply “trusting the process and going from there.”
“I feel like the more you play this sport, the more you learn yourself,” he said. “You learn your body, you know what works for you, you know what doesn’t work for you, and you build off of that. That’s something that I’ve been trying to stay locked in on -- finding what works for me and sticking to it.”