Major League Baseball

2022 MLB Playoffs: Astros' Jeremy Peña is over the Carlos Correa comparisons

Updated Oct. 21, 2022 1:04 p.m. ET

By Deesha Thosar
FOX Sports MLB Writer

HOUSTON — "We don’t miss Carlos Correa — that’s for sure."

Those were the words of a Houston-based Uber driver and self-described die-hard Astros fan as we journeyed to Minute Maid Park on Thursday. The sentiment arrived one day after Astros rookie shortstop Jeremy Peña went 3-for-4 with a home run in the team's 4-2 win over the Yankees, giving Houston a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven ALCS.

At least at the outset of Peña’s major-league career, it’s difficult for anyone to talk about Houston’s young, dynamic shortstop without also mentioning Correa. That much was also true for Yankees second baseman Gleyber Torres when he was asked about the impact Peña has made for the Astros this postseason.

"Man, I faced Houston in the 2019 [ALCS] and they had Correa, an awesome player," Torres said Thursday. "But this year, during the regular season when we faced Houston and [Peña] played, he showed really good abilities. I heard many things about him, like as a good player. And he showed what he can do last night.

"Younger guy, really good energy. He can play really well. So different, I feel, different player, Correa and him, but he looks like he can bring really good energy to Houston."

Correa brought good energy to Houston, too. He played shortstop really well, too. Correa this, Correa that. Peña is used to being compared to his predecessor. After all, Correa was the centerpiece of the Astros organization for seven years. He was their No. 1 draft pick in 2012, and he emerged as a talented and exciting homegrown player who won American League Rookie of the Year honors in 2015. He was also a two-time All-Star who took the Astros to three World Series and won a (since tainted) 2017 championship.

And Correa's stamp on Houston went beyond his star power on the field. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Correa donated more than $500,000 worth of medical equipment to the city of Houston. In 2019, Correa donated $10,000 to the family of Harris County deputy sheriff Sandeep Dhaliwal, who was killed during a traffic stop.

Still, despite Correa's impact on the city, baseball is a game of "what have you done for me lately?" And lately, Peña, Correa’s replacement, is getting all the love because not only is he a star in the making, but he’s here, helping the Astros win playoff games. Correa left.

In March, Correa signed a free-agent deal with the Minnesota Twins after the Astros' offer fell several thousand dollars below his asking price. But even before he signed with the Twins, with rumors about where he would go in free agency swirling around spring training, manager Dusty Baker announced that Peña was the front-runner for the job at shortstop. Before Correa ever donned a Twins jersey, Peña was announced as the shortstop of the Astros’ future.

"I never look at it as, ‘I’m replacing Carlos Correa,'" he told MLB.com in March. "Carlos Correa is a great ballplayer. He’s done great things in Houston, but I’m Jeremy Peña. I want to play my game. I don’t need to fill anyone else’s shoes."

Every rookie carries some level of pressure when they’re called up to the show. But on top of the usual newcomer weight, Peña was tasked with the added burden of constantly being compared to Correa. From the moment he was announced the shortstop to his major-league debut to his nomination for a 2022 Gold Glove award to his success in this postseason, Peña has been eager to step out of Correa’s shadow.

On Wednesday on his home turf at Minute Maid Park, Peña exemplified why fans such as that Houston-based Uber driver "don’t miss Carlos Correa — that’s for sure." In his first at-bat of Game 1 of the ALCS, Peña scorched a double to left field that completely fooled Giancarlo Stanton. In the fifth, he collected another double, which he shot down the third-base line. That knocked Yankees starter Jameson Taillon out of the game.

But he was just warming up for his seventh-inning blast: a solo home run off Frankie Montas that put the Astros up 4-1.

Jeremy Peña crushes a solo homer to extend the Astros' lead

Jeremy Peña hits a solo home run to put the Astros up 4-1 on the Yankees.

"He eats, sleeps, breathes baseball," Alex Bregman said of Peña after the Game 1 victory. "He loves this game. He loves competing. He deserves to be having this success because of the kind of hard worker that he is."

After a solid rookie season (22 home runs, .715 OPS, 4.8 bWAR, 136 games), Peña is 8-for-24 with two home runs, three doubles and two RBIs in his first five career playoff games. It will be tough for Peña to top his first career postseason homer: the 18th-inning shot in Game 3 of the ALDS that led the Astros to a win and sweep in Seattle.

Since then, the moment Peña's barrel connects to the ball at Minute Maid Park, the crowd swoons, no matter if it's a fly out or a base hit. And the second his glove vacuums a ball in the dirt, the crowd starts hollering, well before he actually throws the runner out.

The way Houston has embraced this 25-year-old hotshot rookie who was drafted out of the University of Maine, it’s difficult to believe that his star turn is only just beginning.

Throughout the ride, Peña has been ready for everyone to start talking about him without mentioning Correa. The show he puts on and the electricity he brings to the home crowd is unlike Correa’s distinct showmanship.

Instead, Peña carries a quiet confidence that he has held onto since his days in the minor leagues. His attitude is that he’s been here before, and combined with his terrific postseason results, it suggests that a new era has arrived in Houston.

The city, the fans and the team have already moved on from Correa, anyway.

"He just goes about his business and plays," Baker said of Peña on Thursday. "He plays like a veteran, but he is a rookie. I was a rookie — I was a lot sillier than he was at that time because a lot of rookies are kind of silly, and sometimes you feed off of that silliness, the older players do. You kind of need that.

"But he's quiet, and he goes about his business, and he just comes to play."

Deesha Thosar is an MLB writer for FOX Sports. She previously covered the Mets for the New York Daily News. Follow her on Twitter at @DeeshaThosar.