This season alone, Jeremy Peña has dealt with calf, hamstring, and knee troubles, and we’re just over three months into the season. Even now, the Houston Astros have had to place him on the injured list just weeks after he returned from a leg injury. While both the player and the club remain optimistic about his quick return, the latest injury does raise fresh concerns about the shortstop.

“I don’t want to sound alarm bells, and I don’t want to be fatalistic here, but it is a tad concerning that now this is two soft tissue injuries for Jeremy Peña within a span of about three months,” Chandler Rome said in a Crush City Territory interview on July 1. “You don’t want to see your All-Star shortstop having soft tissue injuries like this so frequently.”

It is unclear to say when Jeremy Peña suffered a left calf injury, but on Tuesday, the Astros placed him on a 10-day IL. He had been playing with some discomfort for over a week, and even discussed the same with the trainers recently. Despite taking him off the roster, manager Joe Espada said he expects the shortstop to make a quick recovery and return.

While this is a positive update for fans, the insider couldn’t help but detail Peña’s previous injuries. The 28-year-old suffered a Grade 1 right hamstring strain and was placed on the IL on April 12. He could only make his recovery after over a month. While Jeremy Peña is batting at .295 and has a .799 OPS, he has played only 48 of 89 games this season.

That’s why Rome even mentioned Alex Bregman while discussing the Houston shortstop. Bregman has had similar issues (elbow, wrist, calf, hamstring, legs), and he has missed several games on multiple occasions in his 9 seasons with the club. But Rome highlighted how Bregman would change his routines to avoid further injuries. That is something he would expect from Peña as well.

However, Rome did clarify that the two entities are not the same. Peña is the fastest runner on the team, and he has much more lateral movement in his position. And the player himself didn’t seem eager to incorporate any changes either. 

“He believes in how he’s preparing his body each day,” Chandler Rome added. “He doesn’t think he needs to change anything. So he’s chalking it up to just, ‘This is part of baseball. This is part of the sport.’”

According to the latest reports, Peña has already started with some light running under trainer observation. But the bigger question extends beyond just getting him back on the field. 

Jeremy Peña’s long-term bet on himself faces fresh scrutiny

The 2022 World Series MVP is playing on a $9.475 million salary after signing a one-year contract to avoid arbitration. However, he remains under team control through 2027 and isn’t eligible for free agency until 2028. That timeline, however, is vastly different from Houston’s original plan.

The Astros offered him a five-year, $105 million deal, but that was before he hired Scott Boras as his agent. He is notorious for convincing players to enter free agency and test the open market instead of penning an early extension. 

The super agent helped Juan Soto sign a massive 15-year, $765 million deal with the New York Mets in 2024. Boras also led Bryce Harper to join the Philadelphia Phillies on a 13-year, $330 million contract as a free agent. 

That’s why it initially made sense when Jeremy Peña rejected the $105 million from the Astros. But the list of his injuries isn’t making a good case for him. He had a broken rib in 2025 and missed 27 games. This year, had a hamstring strain in early April, and now he is sidelined again for a calf strain. Peña has already missed 40 games this season. 

Turning down approximately $20 million per year in favor of less than $10 million for the 2026 season hardly seems like a wise decision in the current situation. And with MLB proposing a limit of five years on player contracts (though the MLBPA has yet to agree), things could become even more complicated in the future.

However, Jeremy Peña and the Astros are taking it one step at a time, with both sides prioritizing an early return. As the insider pointed out, one injury isn’t the issue. It’s the recurrence that the player and his trainers have to be careful about, both now and in the future.