Astros rival earns Silver Slugger finalist spot at Jeremy Peña's expense

The first few weeks of the offseason often focus on the start of the rumor mill, and rightly so. However, it is also awards season, and the Houston Astros have several players who should be in line for consideration for end-of-season hardware in 2026.

Yordan Alvarez's MVP case is one that has been thoroughly dissected over the last several months, but shortstop Jeremy Peña also put together a résumé that, at minimum, seemed worthy of being named a finalist for the prestigious Louisville Slugger Silver Slugger Awards, presented by FanSided.

Each year, the Silver Slugger Awards are given out after a round of voting from MLB managers and coaches. Each league gets one award per position on the field, and they are among the most coveted awards in the sport. Peña seemed like a strong candidate at shortstop in the AL, and most people probably thought that he would end up being named a finalist for 2026.

Unfortunately, that's not the case. When the Silver Slugger finalists for shortstop were revealed, Peña's name was not among them. While no one (probably) has any issues with Detroit Tigers shortstop Kevin McGonigle or Kansas City Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. getting finalist nods, the fact that Los Angeles Angels shortstop Zach Neto got the third finalist spot over Peña just does not seem right.

Jeremy Peña's injury issues with the Astros in 2026 cost him an easy Silver Slugger finalist nod

When you look at the rate stats from this past season, Peña was just a strictly superior hitter to Neto. Peña's batting average is 38 points higher than Neto's mark, and he has notable advantages in OPS (.802 vs. .766) and wRC+ (124 vs. 116). When comparing the two shortstops, there were few viable arguments that Neto was the superior hitter.

The problem that Peña ran into here is with counting stats and the voting demographic for Silver Sluggers. MLB managers and coaches are the voters for the Silver Sluggers, and it is a safe bet most of them aren't going through and parsing wRC+ comparisons for players who aren't on their respective teams.

Unfortunately, Peña played in only 112 games this year after suffering multiple injuries to his hamstring, calf, and finger. You can have the better rate stats all you want, but many of these only look at the numbers on the back of players' baseball cards, and Peña didn't play enough to pull away on paper.

Sure, in an ideal world, merit would be the only consideration for the Silver Sluggers (or any award). That said, voter preferences and tendencies matter, and evaluating the best hitter at each position is extremely subjective. Unfortunately, when you get kicked by a mule, you have to consider the source, even if it does change the result.

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