Jeremy Peña injury update: Astros shortstop lands on IL with rib fracture amid breakout season


The Houston Astros will be without one of their top players for the foreseeable future. Shortstop Jeremy Peña has been placed on the 10-day injured list with a small fracture in one of his ribs on the left side, the Astros announced Monday. The team will make a corresponding roster move Tuesday, before their series opener with the Colorado Rockies.

Peña suffered the injury when he was hit by an 89.0 mph changeup from Chicago Cubs righty Cade Horton last Friday. He remained in the game and even took another at-bat before being removed. Peña has not played since. Here’s the pitch that caused the injury:

Peña and the Astros hoped it was a day-to-day injury, but additional imaging revealed the fracture. Mauricio Dubón started at shortstop Saturday and Sunday and will likely continue to be the starter during Peña’s absence. Since 2021, the average missed time for a rib fracture has been 33 days, per the Baseball Prospectus Recovery Dashboard.

“From talking to doctors, there’s some NFL players that play with this, but it’s a pain-tolerance thing,” Astros general manager Dana Brown said Monday, via MLB.com. “If he feels like he’s fine after a week, we’ll start some baseball activity. We can give him some things to do, and he might be able to play through it as it heals.

“This isn’t one of those things where you have to be sidelined the whole time. Once the inflammation goes down, he might feel good enough to swing a bat. It’s more how much can he tolerate, which means he could come back soon after the 10 days. That’s why he’s on the trip, to get treatment and maybe, potentially get back as soon as he can.”

This has been a breakout season for the 27-year-old Peña, who is hitting .322/.378/.489 with 11 home runs and 15 seasons in 82 games. His 4.6 WAR is already approaching his career high (5.0 WAR in 2022) and is second best among all players, hitters and pitchers, behind only Aaron Judge’s 5.9 WAR.

Astros are ‘still interested’ in a Jeremy Peña extension, so what could a long-term contract look like?

R.J. Anderson

Astros are 'still interested' in a Jeremy Peña extension, so what could a long-term contract look like?

The Astros have been without slugger Yordan Alvarez much of the season. He has not played since May 2 because of a hand injury, though he will being ramping up his rehab work this week. Still, the Astros are now down their greatest power threat in Alvarez and their best all-around player in Peña.

Despite the Alvarez injury (and others), the Astros enter play Monday with a 50-34 record and 6 ½ game lead in the AL West. Houston has won the last four and seven of the last eight division titles, and are well positioned to do it again this year.

Peña is very likely to be an All-Star next month even though he did not advance to Phase 2 of the fan voting. Either Jacob Wilson (Athletics) or Bobby Witt Jr. (Kansas City Royals) will start at shortstop for the American League.





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