WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- The overhaul of his batting stance began only a week into the offseason. Jeremy Peña, coming off a breakout rookie season in 2022, saw his power stroke disappear in the second half of last season -- a puzzling development which overshadowed an otherwise solid season at the plate.
Peña, who split time between Houston and his native Dominican Republic this winter (as well as a trip to the Marucci Sports’ baseball performance lab in Baton Rouge, La., just before Spring Training), reported to camp with a new stance and a new outlook. The goal was to limit his movement in the box and return to driving the ball to the outfield.
“He looks comfortable in the box. He looks athletic,” Astros manager Joe Espada said. “I think he’s using the whole field, hitting the ball in the air more with power and I really like where he’s at early in camp. It’s more efficient and that’s exactly what he’s shown in the last couple of weeks [while working out prior to camp] in Houston.”
Peña took over at shortstop for Carlos Correa in 2022 and slashed .253/.289/.426 (.715 OPS) with a 102 OPS+, 222 total bases, 22 homers and 63 RBIs. He came up huge in Houston’s run to the World Series title and took home MVP honors in the American League Championship Series and World Series and won a Gold Glove
With expectations soaring entering 2023, Peña took a jump in some areas and regressed in others. He posted a 263/.324/.381 slash line with a 95 OPS+ and 220 total bases last year -- numbers not too far off from his rookie season. He also drastically improved his walk rate and cut down on strikeouts just a bit.
“I felt like my swing decisions improved,” he said. “I felt more patient, seeing the ball a little better. Now it’s all kind of mixing it all together and then adding some things on top of that.”
The area in which he regressed the most was his power production. Peña clubbed just 10 homers, including none after July 5, a span of 351 plate appearances including the postseason. Pena’s groundball rate began to skyrocket in June and didn’t recover. Here’s the breakdown of his contact from before and after his final homer of ’23:
Groundball %:
Through July 5: 50.4%
July 6 to end of season: 58.5%
Flyball %:
Through July 5: 21.2%
July 6 to end of season: 16.5%
Barrel %:
Through July 5: 6.2%
July 6 to end of season: 1.8%
“It is what it is,” Peña said. “It’s in the past already. I’m not really going to think about it much more. I already kind of broke down my season like a week into the offseason. I built a plan to work on in the offseason and now it’s a new year. Now we move forward.”
Peña’s new stance was on full display during a round of live batting practice Monday against Astros relievers Josh Hader and Ryan Pressly. Gone is Peña’s bat wag; he now instead rests the bat on his shoulder. His toe tap with his left foot has been replaced with what he calls more of a hover.
“I’m starting the bat from a still position on my shoulder, but I’m still doing some kind of movement with the hands as I’m going,” he said. “I’m not completely getting rid of the wag, it’s just kind of controlling it a little bit more.”
Peña said he wanted to simplify things and be a little more consistent with his positions. He said he feels he’s putting the barrel on the ball more consistently and the ball is “having true spin,” instead of him slicing or topping it.
“It felt good, it felt calm, it felt under control,” he said after Monday’s live batting practice. “That’s the whole goal behind this, to start from a position where I feel comfortable, and I can build off that. Now that I tried it in [live BP], I’m going to keep working off of that.”
As well as things have gone so far, Peña is still in the infancy stage with his new stance. When asked if it felt natural yet, he said, “Natural and comfortable would be my batting stance last year. That’s what’s been natural. This feels like the right thing and it’s something I’m going to keep working on and keep ingraining into my swing.”