Astronauts announced star shortstop on Monday Jeremy Penia It has been placed on the list of 10-day injuries due to a “small” fracture in one of his left ribs. The team has not provided a timeline for Peña’s expected returns. The team added that the corresponding move will not be announced until later that day.
Peña was hit on the rib by the Cubs rookie Cade Horton Past Friday. He quit the game, but the initial X-ray is back. Peña, who was not in the lineup on Saturday and Sunday, was obviously still feeling uncomfortable as the Astronauts showed a follow-up MRI and CT scan, which indicated a fracture.
This is a terrible injury for the astronauts. Peña enjoys a full-scale breakthrough this year, which likely makes him an American League MVP finalist. The 27-year-old shortstop hit .322/.378/.489 with 11 home runs, 18 doubles, triple and 15 steals (17 attempts), all with defense in the shortstop game. Fangraphs ranked third in the bench with a 4.1 victory and with Shohei Ohtani Only fall behind Judge Aaron and Cal Raleigh. Baseball citations tied Peña with Raleigh for second place, behind the judge.
Peña’s breakthrough was partly due to good luck on the ball in the game (.360 Babip, up from his .308 in the previous three seasons), but that’s just part of the story. He improved his walking rate, and while it is still below league average, his 5.7% mark made a significant improvement over last year’s trivial 3.8% clip. His strikeout rate of 15.7% fell with his 17.1% score last year. Peña’s batting profile isn’t clear at a glance, but while his overall average exit speed has barely changed, his exit speed has hit the air since 2024. Specifically, it is nearly three miles per hour. Statcast’s “expected” metrics still feel there is some return in the store, but there are significant changes in his basic statistics, suggesting that he will not only fade into the 2022-24 pedestrian offense.
Replacing the type of production provided by Peña is simply not feasible. Mauricio Dubon Over the past few days, it has been stepping up on shortstops, at least to offer solid gloves, but his career is .259/.294/.379 batsman, whose batsman hits .239/.278/.390 in 2025. Bris MatthewsHouston’s No. 28 pick in the 2023 draft is currently in three innings, cutting .285/.403/.492, walking percentage at 15.4%, but shooting 28.5% from three-pointers.
Matthews has not yet been on the 40-man lineup and does not need to be added this winter to protect him from the Rule 5 draft, but his performance still put him in the conversation to put aside with Peña. It is speculated that Peña will miss the time, the more severe the organization will think Matthews can choose to step in for him. Alternative options for some shortstop experience within the organization include Shay Whitcomb (already in the 40-man lineup), Zack Short and Greg Jones. However, neither Jones nor Jones entered the 40s. Whitcomb barely played shortstop in 2025, but does have over 1,800 professional bureaus in that position.
