Houston Astros shortstop Jeremy Pena arrived at spring training, looking a bit different.
The 2022 World Series MVP appears to have added a significant amount of muscle mass in his arms. Over the weekend, the Astros posted a photo on Twitterr of the 25-year-old at spring training.
Another photo, taken by Astros beat writer Chandler Rome showed a very muscular Pena signing autographs for fans.
Pena made his big league debut last year, as the Astros' Opening Day shortstop, a position he would not relinquish. In his rookie season, Pena slashed .253/.289/.715 with 22 home runs and 63 RBI in the regular season, and rose to occasion in the playoffs, leading the Astros in OPS (1.005) and home runs (4), placing second in batting average (.345) and on base percentage (.367) and third in RBI (8) in the postseason. He also won an American League Gold Glove Award, and received World Series and American League Championship Series MVP honors.
Pena inherited the shortstop position from Carlos Correa, who, after seven years with the Astros, signed a three-year $105.3 million contract with the Minnesota Twins last March. Correa opted out of the contract earlier this winter, and signed a long-term deal to remain with the Twins, after reaching an agreement with both the San Francisco Giants and New York Mets. Both deals collapsed after Correa took a physical for each club.
With Pena at short, not only did the Astros repeat as American League West champions, but they won 11 more games in 2022 (106) than they did in 2021 (95) with Correa manning the position. They would later go on to win the World Series, with Pena as the series' MVP.
In the World Series, Pena led all players in batting average, OBP and OPS, slashing .400/.423/1.023 with one home run and three RBI, while contributing outstanding defense at short.
In 2022, Pena would outperform Correa in Defensive Runs Saved (16 to 3), Outs Above Average (7 to -3) and Defensive WAR (2.4 to 1.1), while playing the same number of games (136).
Pena and the Astros hope to repeat as World Series champions. The club will play its first spring training game Saturday against the New York Mets.
More must-reads: