Peña has fracture in finger; likely out of Classic

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- Astros All-Star shortstop Jeremy Peña has a fracture in the tip of his right ring finger. The fracture was revealed after he met with a hand specialist on Thursday afternoon.

Peña sustained the injury during Wednesday’s exhibition game between the Dominican Republic and the Detroit Tigers in Santo Domingo, D.R., and was removed after three innings.

Peña, starting at shortstop for the Dominican team that will play in the World Baseball Classic, fielded a hard-hit ground ball by Wenceel Pérez behind second base in the third inning and threw to first base for the out. He was seen on video uncomfortably looking down at his right hand a couple of times after the play, but stayed in the game and struck out in the bottom of the third before being removed.

Astros manager Joe Espada, who talked to Peña and Dominican manager Albert Pujols, said the ball struck Peña’s nail, causing some blood. He had an X-ray after the game in the Dominican Republic and flew back to south Florida on Wednesday night with the team. Peña’s status for the WBC is unclear.

“Just the fact that he finished the inning, finished the play, felt good enough to go and get an at-bat -- we know how tough Jeremy is -- but I’m going to let our doctors take a look at him and then we’ll gauge where we go from here,” Espada said Thursday.

Espada said Peña didn’t sound too concerned when he spoke with him on the phone.

“That’s also Jeremy, you know? He was trying to convince Pujols to stay in the game,” he said. “I talked to Pujols, also, and he said, ‘Joe, he wanted to stay in the game.’ There was some blood coming out of that nail area.”

Peña left Astros camp on Saturday to join the Dominican team in Miami. Peña, who was born in the Dominican but raised in Rhode Island, was scheduled to compete in the WBC for the first time. The D.R. is in Pool D in Miami and will begin group play on Friday against Nicaragua, followed by games on Sunday vs. the Netherlands, Monday vs. Israel and Wednesday vs. Venezuela, which is managed by Astros bench coach Omar López.

Peña is one of only three Astros players competing in the WBC this year, joining Zach Dezenzo (Italy) and Shay Whitcomb (Korea). Jose Altuve (Venezuela) and Carlos Correa (Puerto Rico) had originally agreed to play, but they had to pull out over insurance issues. Altuve fractured his right thumb in the 2023 WBC and missed the first 43 games of the regular season.

The Astros have been actively shopping infielder Isaac Paredes throughout the offseason and into Spring Training to solve their infield surplus issue. If Peña is shelved for any length of time in the regular season, Houston could move Correa back to shortstop and have Paredes play third. Paredes was the starting third baseman for the Astros last season until a severe right hamstring strain in July cost him a couple of months.

Peña, the World Series MVP in 2022, made his first All-Star team in '25 and was named the club’s Most Valuable Player for the first time after slashing .304/.363/.477 with 17 homers, 62 RBIs and 20 steals in 125 games, mostly as Houston’s leadoff hitter.

Peña missed the month of July -- and the All-Star Game -- with a fractured rib and didn’t play in the final week of the regular season because of a strained left oblique. The injuries helped derail the Astros’ run of eight consecutive trips to the postseason, with Houston missing the playoffs by one game.