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The Houston Astros are on cloud nine after watching Jeremy Peña put on a clinic against the Kansas City Royals on Wednesday night at Daikin Park. The Astros shortstop went 4-for-4 with two RBI and helped lead Houston to a series win over KC. His running mate, Isaac Paredes, hasn't been too shabby, either. What Astros fans might not know, however, is that both have been better than former All-Star outfielder Kyle Tucker.
Believe it or not, both Peña and Paredes have a higher bWAR than Tucker. The Cubs outfielder, who was on fire to begin his tenure on the North Side, has cooled off a bit of late. Tucker, who was traded to Chicago this past winter in exchange for Paredes, Hayden Wesneski, and Cam Smith, still owns a 154 OPS+ with 10 homers. But his performance since the calendar flipped to May has taken a turn for the worse.
In 13 games this month, the Cubs are just 7-6 — though still lead the NL Central — and Tucker is hitting just .224/.333/.469. Those aren't terrible numbers per se, but he owned a .279/.386/.549 slash line though his first 31 games with Chicago, and the team was five games above .500.
Astros fans are loving life as Jeremy Peña and Isaac Paredes outshine Kyle Tucker
Peña, who's 2.2 bWAR is significantly higher than Tucker's 1.5 bWAR, is having a career-year thus far. Peña is hitting .315/.365/.475 with a 138 OPS+. Throw in six home runs, 23 RBI, six stolen bases, and Gold Glove caliber defense at shortstop, and you can understand why Peña's performance has allowed him to zoom past Tucker.
Paredes, however, might be the more surprising of the two Astros' infielders. After a slow start, Paredes has picked it up lately, and is hitting .267/.385/.440 with six round-trippers, 19 RBI, and a 136 OPS. Paredes' 2.0 bWAR is also higher than Tucker's, and he's posted an impressive .987 OPS during the month of May.
Whether or not both Peña and Paredes continue to race past Tucker throughout the entire 2025 season remains to be seen, but Astros fans have to be feeling good at the moment based on the results. Trading Tucker was not ideal, the trio of Paredes, Wesneski, and Smith is currently worth 2.8 bWAR and all three are under team control beyond 2025. Astros fans can only imagine that GM Dana Brown is smiling ear to ear at the moment.