With the MLB season less than two months away, the annual prediction machine is officially in full swing.
Houston Astros flag | Troy Taormina-Imagn Images
Opening Day isn’t even here yet, and fans are already drowning in projected lineups, “Top 10 teams,” breakout candidates, and the kind of rankings that always seem harmless… until they hit the wrong fanbase.
This time, it was the Houston Astros.
On MLB Network, longtime host Brian Kenny revealed his list of the Top 10 shortstops in baseball — a list that includes plenty of familiar names: Bobby Witt Jr., Gunnar Henderson, Corey Seager, Trea Turner, and Francisco Lindor. No one is arguing those are elite players.
But the moment the list dropped, one absence turned it from “debate content” into a full-blown controversy:
Where is Jeremy Peña?
Not just a good player. Not just a fan favorite. Peña is the Astros’ All-Star shortstop, a former Gold Glove winner, and the 2022 World Series MVP — a résumé that most players would kill for before their career even hits its prime.
Yet somehow, he didn’t make the cut.
And the part that’s fueling the anger isn’t just that he was left off. It’s who made it instead.
According to Kenny’s ranking, shortstops like Zach Neto, Dansby Swanson, and Elly De La Cruz landed ahead of Peña — and that’s where Astros fans feel like the list stops being “opinion” and starts looking like a miss.
Because statistically, Peña’s 2025 season wasn’t borderline Top 10.
It was clearly Top 10.
Peña posted a slash line of .304/.363/.477 with an .840 OPS — production that doesn’t just belong on a list, it belongs near the top of one.
His 132 OPS+ shows he wasn’t just good, he was well above league average. He also produced 5.6 bWAR, a number that stacks up extremely well against multiple players who did make Kenny’s list.
Even if you don’t want to call it disrespect, it’s hard to call it logical.
The online reaction was immediate. Fans flooded the comments with the same question again and again: how do you leave Peña off?
And unlike most ranking outrage, this didn’t feel like pure emotion. It came with receipts. People weren’t just yelling — they were pointing to production, postseason history, and defensive value.
And when fans are using data to push back, it usually means something went wrong in the ranking process.
So what could explain it?
One possible reason is availability. Peña played 125 games in 2025, spending nearly a quarter of the season on the injured list.
But even that excuse doesn’t hold up under scrutiny. Peña still played nearly as many games as Neto — and he played 23 more games than Corey Seager, who landed in the Top 5.
Another argument might be that 2025 was Peña’s “breakout,” and voters don’t trust it yet. In his first three seasons, he hovered around being an above-average hitter, batting .260 with an OPS+ around 100.
But baseball doesn’t grade on vibes. It grades on results.
And if breakout seasons are disqualifying, then why does Geraldo Perdomo — another player who surged in 2025 — rank so highly?
Perdomo’s breakout is being rewarded, while Peña’s breakout is being ignored. That inconsistency is exactly why this snub feels so loud.
Defensively, Peña has never been a liability. He won a Gold Glove as a rookie. And even without being a finalist in 2025, he remained strong enough on the infield to compare favorably with players like De La Cruz and Swanson.
De La Cruz is electric. He’s a highlight machine. He’s the kind of player social media loves — speed, personality, chaos.
But when you look past the clips, the profile isn’t as clean. A .777 OPS and 109 OPS+ with 181 strikeouts is exciting, but it’s not clearly better than Peña’s complete package.
Swanson has been around since 2016, but he hasn’t topped 5.5 bWAR in a season — which is right where Peña already is.
Even Mookie Betts being ranked above Peña raises eyebrows after a down 2025 offensively (.258/.326/.406 with a 104 OPS+).
Betts has the career résumé, the rings, and the decade-long dominance, so the placement is defensible — but it still highlights the core frustration: Peña isn’t being judged by what he did, he’s being judged by what people think he is.
And that’s what makes this snub feel like more than a list.
It feels like narrative control.
The Astros are coming off a year where they didn’t reach the postseason, and now one of their best players is being treated like he’s not even in the conversation.
But if Peña stays healthy in 2026, the “snub” could turn into fuel — the kind that drives an All-Star season into something darker and more dangerous.
Because Peña doesn’t need a Top 10 ranking to matter.
He needs a full season.
And if he gets it, the league might find out the hard way that leaving him off the list was the easiest part. ⚡
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