Astros Lineup Puts 'No Pressure' on Young Superstar To Produce Offensively

In 2022, the Houston Astros were able to win their second World Series championship in franchise history.

It was another crowning achievement for this "Golden Era" that has become one of the best dynasties in the history of baseball based on their divisional success and playoff achievements.

One Astros player who exploded onto the scene during the 2022 season was Jeremy Pena.

The rookie shortstop was tasked with replacing their franchise icon, Carlos Correa, and he took that role and ran with it.

He slashed .253/.289/.426 with 22 home runs and 63 RBI. His game went to the next level in the playoffs when he had a slash line of .345/.367/.638 to go with four homers and eight runs driven in.

Pena won both the ALCS MVP and World Series MVP awards in 2022 as a rookie, playing a major part in Houston raising another championship banner.

However, last season looked a bit different for the 26-year-old as his power numbers noticeably dipped, only hitting 10 home runs with a slugging percentage of .381.

The star shortstop has also gone 351 plate appearances heading into the start of 2024 without hitting a homer.

But, based on the lineup that the Astros have, Chandler Rome of The Athletic thinks this will allow him to continue growing as a hitter and won't put pressure on him to perform every single night for their success.

"Even if he doesn’t, the Astros have constructed a lineup that doesn’t require Pena to be some offensive superstar ... the pressure isn’t on Pena to carry a lineup," he writes.

Of course, it would be great if the third-year player produced better numbers at the plate.

Their already scary lineup would become that much more of a juggernaut.

But even with all the negative sentiment surrounding his offensive performance last year, Pena was still able to raise his batting average by 10 points and his on-base percentage by 35 points. He lowered his strikeout rate and chase rate as well.

These are all positives for the young player as he continues to find himself at the plate in his Major League career.

Who knows, maybe this is the year Pena puts everything together and combines the strides he made in 2023 with the power he showed in 2022.

If that's the case, the sky is the limit for Houston's star shortstop.