Astros Prospect Receives High Praise from Baseball Prospectus

Jeremy Peña is the sole Astros’ prospect ranked by Baseball Prospectus.

A day following the announcement of Baseball America’s top 100 prospects list, Baseball Prospectus announced their top 101 prospects for 2022. On that list, Jeremy Peña was the sole Houston Astros‘ prospect, sitting at. No. 16.

Of the top 20 prospects ranked, 11 play on the left side of the infield, eight being shortstops. Peña ranks seventh of those shortstops within the top 20, showing how strong the up incoming position is.

Peña continues to excel in the Dominican Winter League this offseason.

Other top Houston farm hands are catcher Korey Lee, who ranks ahead of Peña by Baseball America and MLB Pipeline, Hunter Brown and Pedro Leon, but all three were left out of the top 101.

Lee being left off the top 101 by Baseball Prospectus seems like a head scratcher with his multitude of tools defensively and offensively.

His breed of catcher isn’t as common in today’s game, but the less parity in rankings drives more conversation of who is the most valuable prospect in the system.

Brown and Leon being left off make sense, as both had inconsistent stints to adjustments. For Brown, he would likely jump into a few top 100 rankings at some point this season with his strikeout numbers way above the minor-league average.

For Leon, scouts are “largely unimpressed” with the multi-tooled prospect, according to Chandler Rome of Baseball America. Although receiving a large signing bonus in 2021, Leon struggled with minor-league adjustments early on before falling to injury at the Triple-A level.

One of Baseball Prospectus’  founders is the current general manager for the Astros. But with no influence from James Click, the outlet is high on Peña moving forward, while the shortstop is a contender to start on Opening Day for the Astros.