Correa who? How Jeremy Pena replaced an Astros icon, without the team losing a step

THIS WINTER, THE Houston Astros were astatine a fork successful the road.

Their longtime shortstop, Carlos Correa, was 1 of the faces of the franchise, a subordinate who stood up for the clubhouse amid the disapproval the squad faced from its trash-can-banging, sign-stealing scandal. He was 1 of the archetypal players the Astros chose during their years of tanking nether Jeff Luhnow's beforehand office, a No. 1 wide prime with precocious expectations who had lived up to his committedness successful the large leagues.

But Astros GM James Click knew re-signing Correa would outgo the squad resources that could alternatively spell toward gathering depth. When Click came to Houston successful 2020, helium hoped to make a sustainable victor successful the exemplary of the Los Angeles Dodgers and his erstwhile team, the Tampa Bay Rays. Signing Correa to an expensive, semipermanent declaration would spot distant astatine that vision.

More importantly, the squad already had a succession program successful mind: Jeremy Peña.

Peña had been successful Houston's strategy since 2018, erstwhile helium was drafted successful the 3rd round. He was playing successful Triple-A by 2021, ranked arsenic the 48th champion imaginable successful shot by ESPN's Kiley McDaniel up of the 2022 season. On Opening Day, Peña became the archetypal subordinate different than Correa to commencement astatine shortstop for the Astros since 2015, but the rookie has picked up wherever his predecessor near disconnected -- arsenic a cardinal cog successful a squad playing successful its 4th World Series successful six years.

Peña, who Tuesday became the archetypal rookie shortstop to triumph a Gold Glove, has sparked the Astros with his offense, too. On the biggest stage, he's enactment unneurotic an unthinkable stretch, hitting .333/.357/.648 with 4 homers successful 12 postseason games, including the go-ahead homer successful the 18th inning of Game 3 of the ALDS against the Seattle Mariners. He won ALCS MVP honors against the New York Yankees with homers successful Games 1 and 4. On Thursday, helium became the archetypal rookie shortstop successful MLB past with a deed successful 5 consecutive World Series games -- and the archetypal ever to deed a location tally successful the Fall Classic.

In different words: Correa who?

"[Peña] wasn't trying to beryllium anybody but himself. He said that from time one," teammate Alex Bregman said. "He understood however bully Carlos has been and what helium meant to each azygous idiosyncratic successful here. His lone absorption was conscionable to beryllium Jeremy and he's stuck with that the full year. He's trying to play his crippled and permission his legacy."

And portion Peña's show catapulted him into the Rookie of the Year conversation, his poise allowed him not conscionable to regenerate a franchise player, but to travel done successful October.

"I felt assured successful my abilities," Peña said. "Not conscionable defense, not conscionable hitting. I felt similar I could bash a small spot of everything. I knew I could hit. I knew I could run. I knew I could throw, could field. It was a substance of getting the accidental and taking advantage."

WHEN THE ASTROS envisioned Peña taking implicit for Correa, they imagined a subordinate who would beryllium acceptable to play elite defence connected Day 1. After all, he'd been perfecting his glovework since his summers increasing up successful Providence, Rhode Island, wherever Peña and his older and younger brothers, Austin and Carlos, created a crippled they called "Big League."

The rules of "Big League" were simple: Throw the shot hard disconnected a factual partition and tract the speedy bounceback cleanly to gain a point. If you grabbed 10 crushed balls successful a row, you'd get 10 points and a spot connected a insignificant league team. The adjacent 10 grounders mightiness nonstop you up a level, from short-season shot to High-A, and truthful on. But if you missed one, you'd beryllium demoted. The victor was the archetypal member to marque it each the mode to the large leagues.

"We would beryllium playing for hours and we've caught similar 600 crushed balls, not adjacent reasoning astir it," Peña said. "We were conscionable having fun. My older member [Austin] was ever the archetypal to get to the large leagues. I would beryllium stuck successful Double-A and my small member would not adjacent beryllium signed."

When the New England winters came, Peña recovered different partition -- this 1 successful his family's basement -- and threw a yellowish batting cage shot against it, to enactment connected his hands. He'd prime up balls barehanded, backhanded -- immoderate mode helium could to improve.

"Baseball, you gotta person your foundation," Peña said. "You gotta person your fundamentals. When you play games similar that, past you person that successful your backmost pocket. You cognize you tin dive and propulsion the shot from a knee."

When Peña showed up to shot tryouts astatine Providence's Classical High School arsenic a freshman, caput manager Ken Wnuk didn't clasp back. Wnuk ever liked to enactment infielders to the trial immediately, hitting grounders hard and seeing however they reacted to atrocious bounces connected the peculiarly patchy shot fields of the Northeast. Peña handled them with ease.

"I don't pussyfoot astir with crushed balls," Wnuk said. "But helium made each the plays, each the throws and I'm conscionable thinking, 'This kid is f---ing good.'"

When University of Maine caput manager Nick Derba archetypal scouted Peña arsenic a precocious schoolhouse sophomore, helium saw a fluidity to the shortstop's hands, with footwork and instincts exceeding his expectations for a 16-year-old player.

"He was a Double-A shortstop arsenic a sophomore successful precocious school," Derba said. "I watched him instrumentality 1 crushed shot and I thought helium was the champion defender successful the country."

The Peña family's affinity for baseball, though, didn't commencement with 3 young boys uncovering originative ways to play the crippled they loved.

It started with Peña's father, Geronimo, an infielder for St. Louis and Cleveland who played his past crippled successful the large leagues successful 1998, a twelvemonth aft Jeremy Peña was calved successful Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

When Peña was nine, the household moved to Providence to beryllium adjacent family. There, Peña genuinely began his emotion matter with baseball, often heading retired with his dada to tract hundreds if not thousands of crushed balls successful a azygous session. At McCoy Stadium successful adjacent Pawtucket, the erstwhile location of the Boston Red Sox Triple-A affiliate, Peña would ticker players similar Dustin Pedroia, Jon Lester, Josh Reddick and Daniel Nava marque their mark.

"I grew up a large fan, but I besides wanted to beryllium successful it," Peña said. "I would spell to a game, and portion everyone's rooting for the location runs, I was paying attraction to the pre-pitch hop, what players were doing, however they were moving. I was watching what the players were doing connected deck, watching the small things."

His father, a large league relation exemplary nether the aforesaid roof, shared stories from his career, giving his lad a consciousness of the shot manner and enactment ethic it would necessitate to travel his puerility heroes to the majors.

"It gives you a consciousness that it's possible," Peña said.

The Atlanta Braves saw thing successful Peña, selecting him successful the 39th circular of the 2015 MLB Draft. Peña chose to not sign, and alternatively headed to the University of Maine, wherever he'd gain a spot connected the America East Conference All-Rookie team. He spent his summers playing successful the New England Collegiate Baseball League with the Plymouth Pilgrims, past aboriginal with the Chatham Angels successful the Cape Cod Baseball League, wherever helium was named an All-Star.

After a breakout play successful his inferior year, Peña was drafted by the Astros successful the 3rd circular of the 2018 draft. Derba -- who himself was selected successful the 30th circular of the 2007 draught by the Cardinals, and made it arsenic acold arsenic Triple-A -- has seen galore players get drafted. But Peña's goal, helium said, was astir much than getting drafted, and more, too, than adjacent reaching the large leagues.

"He hadn't gotten to wherever helium wanted to beryllium yet," said Derba.

WITH THE LARGER program of replacing Correa successful mind, the Astros added Peña to their taxi squad during the 2021 postseason, hoping to exposure him to the unit of the large leagues, adjacent if lone from the bench. They wanted him to sorb the seasoned power of Jose Altuve and Bregman. Just a fewer months later, aft seeing him set truthful good to the large league clubhouse, Click felt comfy moving guardant with Peña astatine shortstop for 2022.

"He conscionable looked the portion of a precise talented large league shortstop," Click said. "Letting spell of Carlos was evidently a precise hard decision. Not casual by immoderate means, but these are the benignant of things we person to bash successful bid to support this franchise winning, to beryllium capable to withstand the inevitable losses."

The anticipation for Peña was that helium was going to beryllium a defense-first shortstop. With the spot of the Astros' lineup, hitting similar Correa wasn't a requirement.

But Peña's crippled proved to see immoderate pop, too. The rookie deed .263/.310/.454 with 13 homers successful the archetypal half, and ended the play hitting .253/.289/.426 with 22 homers -- tied with Correa for sixth among each MLB shortstops. His 4.8 bWAR wasn't acold disconnected from Correa's 5.4.

"We were highly assured that helium would beryllium capable to clasp down shortstop from a antiaircraft presumption and adhd worth that way," Click said. "The discourtesy -- not that it was gravy, but it gave america precocious assurance of wherever the level was for him."

Peña's occurrence has been a portion of the Astros' improvement into a perennial juggernaut, a subordinate improvement mill with established veterans and young rising stars similar Yordan Alvarez, Framber Valdez and Cristian Javier. Correa went connected to motion with the Minnesota Twins for a $35.1 cardinal yearly salary, and, due to the fact that of Peña, the Astros haven't missed a measurement astatine shortstop.

He's a important portion of the Astros' lineup, and his homers successful large October moments person travel arsenic nary astonishment to teammates similar designated hitter Trey Mancini.

"The mode helium carries himself is similar a 10-year veteran," Mancini said. "Just truthful cool, calm, collected successful each situation. The archetypal time I met him, I retrieve I got traded implicit [from Baltimore] and I kept forgetting this kid's a rookie."

Astros manager Dusty Baker was instantly impressed by the mode Peña handled the media attention, antithetic for a subordinate who did not travel up arsenic a highly touted prospect.

"You could archer by his brightness successful his eyes and his alertness connected the tract that helium wasn't frightened and helium wasn't fazed by this," Baker said. "Boy, he's been a godsend for us, particularly since we mislaid Carlos."

Peña surely wasn't fazed successful Game 5 of the World Series, homering and driving successful 2 runs to assistance enactment the Astros 1 triumph from a championship.

"What he's done this twelvemonth was akin to erstwhile I saw a young Andruw Jones arsenic a young subordinate with the Braves against the Yankees [in the 1996 World Series]," Baker said. "Every erstwhile successful a portion these guys travel along, not that often, but it conscionable goes to amusement you, I mean, his aboriginal is very, precise bright."

Now, Peña finds himself connected the cusp of shot history.

"You imagination astir this worldly erstwhile you're a kid," Peña said of playing October baseball. "Shout retired to my teammates. We amusement up each azygous day. We stayed existent to ourselves each year. We're a measurement distant from our eventual goal."