Former Plymouth Pilgrim SS Jeremy Peña Debuts with Astros
PLYMOUTH, Mass. – When the Houston Astros took the field on Opening Day 2022, they did so along with the 184th alumni of the New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECB) to make their major league debut. Shortstop Jeremy Peña, who was a member of the 2016 Plymouth Pilgrims, then an NECBL franchise, made the Astros as a starter out of camp and was in the lineup for the first game of the year.
A native of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Peña and his family moved to Providence, Rhode Island where he attended Classical High School before playing college baseball at the University of Maine.
After a freshman year at Maine in which he hit .283 while appearing in 55 games, Peña joined the Pilgrims where he appeared in 35 games. He hit .236 with the Pilgrims, including 5 doubles, 1 triple and 4 home runs. He was also 4-4 on stolen base attempts in Plymouth.
Peña, who had been drafted by the Atlanta Braves out of high school, was selected in the third round of the 2018 MLB Draft by the Astros. He made his first professional appearance with the Tri-City ValleyCats (Class A SS NY Penn League), where he was named an All-Star. He was also an All-Star in 2019 for the Quad Cities River Bandits (Class A), which earned him a promotion to the Class A-Advanced Fayetteville Woodpeckers. Overall in 2019, Peña batted .303 with 7 home runs, 54 RBIs and 20 stolen bases.
The Covid-19 pandemic and an injury to his wrist that required surgery caused Peña to miss time, but in late August of 2021 he made his Triple A debut with the Sugar Land Skeeters.
After the 2021 MLB season, Peña was selected to the 40-man roster of the Astros. During 2022 spring training, he was named as the starting shortstop after the departure of Carlos Correa.
Peña hit his first major league home run in his second career game, on April 8th. On April 24th, he hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the tenth for his first career walk-off hit. Through the first 23 games of his big-league career, Peña has hit five home runs and collected 3 doubles and 14 RBIs.
The New England Collegiate Baseball League is a wooden bat college summer league that fields teams in all six New England states. Partially funded by Major League Baseball, the New England League started play in 1994 and has sent over 150 alumni to the Major Leagues with nearly 30 alumni taken in the first round of the MLB Draft. For continuing coverage of the NECBL, visit NECBL.com and follow the league on Twitter, Instagram and on Facebook.
