Jeremy Pena plays down impact of batting order change as he backs Houston Astros manager Dusty Baker to figure out early season travails

Jeremy Pena is yet to taste the same individual success with the Houston Astros that he did last season. After playing as the leadoff hitter for the first eight games, Pena was dropped down the batting lineup by Dusty Baker. However, no comments were made from the batter about this decision.

Born to Dominican parents, Jeremy Pena played his amateur career in Providence. After getting selected by the Astros organization through the MLB draft, the 25-year-old played a few years in the minor leagues. At the start of the 2022 season, he was selected to the 40-man roster.

After strong sporadic appearances throughout the season, Pena showed impeccable postseason form. He was declared the World Series MVP and became only the third rookie in MLB history to win the award.

Add to that the ALCS MVP title, he became the first rookie ever to win both awards as the Astros thumped the Yankees in the ALCS and then went on to win the Fall Classic against the Phillies.

Looking at his performances and Jose Altuve's unfortunate injury in the World Baseball Classic, manager Dusty Baker had given Pena the nod to be Houston's leadoff hitter. However, this didn't go according to plan as he scored only six runs from thirty-five at-bats and recorded 10 strikeouts. Five of those came in Saturday's opener against the Minnesota Twins.

After the decision was taken to drop Pena, he was questioned where he said:

"That's baseball. I'm not going to say I wanted to move down. I don't want to try to spin this and put me against Dusty because that's not the case and he's doing what's best for the team. Whereever I can help the team, that's where I'm going to be..."

After the change was made, Pena had a decent outing with a 1-for-4 against the Twins securing a two-run home run but was also struck out three times in the game.

Manager Dusty Baker explains his decision to drop Jeremy Pena down the batting lineup

As a baseball manager, sometimes it is necessary to make hard decisions that might benefit the team overall. Houston Astros manager Dusty Baker's decision to drop Jeremy Pena came with a lot of questions from the media.

"When you’re going good, you love leadoff because you get at least four, maybe five at-bats. But when you’re not going good, those at-bats add up quickly and then the pressure gets on you quickly."

The Astros are off to a poor start to the season currently with a 3-6 record and sit fourth in the American League West division.