BIOGRAPHY
Jeremy Peña was born September 22, 1997, in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. He is an infielder in the MLB.
Peña was born and raised in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, before he and his family moved to Providence, Rhode Island, when he was nine years old. He attended Classical High School in Providence, playing baseball and running track and cross country. In 2014, his junior year, he batted .352. As a senior in 2015, he hit .390 with two home runs. Following his senior year, he was selected by the Atlanta Braves in the 39th round of the 2015 Major League Baseball draft. He did not sign and instead enrolled at the University of Maine where he played college baseball.
As a freshman at Maine in 2016, Peña started and played in 55 games, batting .283 with one home run, 15 RBIs, and 11 stolen bases, earning a spot on the America East Conference All-Rookie Team. That summer, he played in the New England Collegiate Baseball League with the Plymouth Pilgrims. In 2017, Peña's sophomore year, he started 54 games and hit .319 with six home runs and 32 RBIs. Following the season, he played in the Cape Cod Baseball League with the Chatham Anglers, earning All-Star honors. In 2018, as a junior, he once again started 54 games, slashing .308/.393/.469 with five home runs, 28 RBIs, and ten stolen bases, earning American East Second-Team honors. After the season, he was drafted by the Houston Astros in the third round of the 2018 Major League Baseball draft.
Peña signed with Houston and made his professional debut with the Tri-City ValleyCats of the Class A Short Season New York-Penn League, batting .250 with one home run and ten RBIs over 36 games, earning All-Star honors. In 2019, Peña began the year with the Quad Cities River Bandits of the Class A Midwest League, with whom he was named an All-Star, before being promoted to the Fayetteville Woodpeckers of the Class A-Advanced Carolina League in June. Over 109 games between the two teams, he slashed .303/.385/.440 with seven home runs, 54 RBIs, and twenty stolen bases.
He made his major league debut as the Astros starting shortstop on Opening Day. On April 9, 2022, Peña hit his first major league home run while his parents were being interviewed during the broadcast.
Making his postseason debut in the American League Division Series (ALDS), Peña singled to precede a Yordan Álvarez game-winning home run in both of the first two games. The third game, which lasted a record-tying in postseason play 18 innings—including a record 17 scoreless innings—was decided by Peña's home run in the top of the 18th inning off Penn Murfee, also his first career home run on the postseason stage, deciding the longest shutout in postseason history. Peña was named the Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the American League Championship Series (ALCS), hitting .353 with two home runs in the Astros' four-game sweep of the New York Yankees. In Game 5 of the World Series, he homered off Noah Syndergaard to become the first rookie shortstop to hit a home run in World Series play. The Astros won the World Series in six games, and Peña became the third rookie ever to be named the World Series MVP. He also become the first American League (AL) player–and ninth overall–to win both LCS and WS MVP honors in the same year.
Peña was awarded the AL 2022 Gold Glove Award for his play at shortstop. He became the first Astros rookie to win a Gold Glove, and the first rookie ever to win a Gold Glove at shortstop in MLB history. The Houston chapter of the Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA) named Peña the Astros' Rookie of the Year.
