Is Pena ever going to hit for power?

[poodski]

Is Pena ever going to hit for power? |

The Cubs didn’t bring Carlos Pena in to hit one extra base hit in his first 60 PA. The Cubs brought Pena in to have a legitimate power source from the left side, and so far Pena has been anything but that.

Pena’s line going into today’s game is 188/322/208 which is to say pathetic. Of qualified 1B only James Loney has a lower OPS (.414) at his point in the season and no 1B has a lower SLG, and in fact only 5 players in all of baseball have a lower slugging percentage than Pena. So whats the problem?

Well the short answer I am going to give you is: I don’t have a clue. Now you are asking why in the hell are you writing a damn article about it then. Well the reason I am is because I am not going to panic (at least not yet) about his slow start. Pena’s peripheral stats look pretty much like his career numbers. Hitting similar line drives, fly balls, and ground balls. He isn’t swinging at more pitches outside the zone. He is making contact at the same rate. He has struck out a little bit more than usual, but not enough to throw up a red flag. No the only place that the numbers are way off is the home runs per fly balls stat.

For his career Pena has hit HR’s at a percentage of 20.3% of all fly balls. So what this means is that for ever 5 fly balls Pena hits one of them goes over the fence. As you most likely know Pena hasn’t hit a single one this year. Pena has hit 13 fly balls this season so for his season he would have hit around two or three. If lets say two of those leave the park instead of landing for outs it moves Pena’s line up to a more acceptable 229/356/375, and if three of them leave the park it jumps all the way to 250/373/458.

Another reason not to be concerned is Pena has gone this long before without a HR. Last year he went 19 games in a row without a HR from April 29th to May 19th. He still ended the season with 28 home runs. In 2009 he went 21 games with only hitting one home run in that span, and he ended up with 39 home runs.

So what I am saying is relax. I still think Pena will be alright, but if another week goes by and still no home runs, then maybe we can start to worry, but for now he is 3 fly balls going to little further from being one of the worst 1B in baseball to outplaying Albert Pujols at this point in the season.

 

[AddisonStation]

I've got to say he will. Earlier this week, I think on Monday, he hit two balls that just died in the wind that probably would have been out any other day. I think he'll definitely start slugging and sooner than later. Nothing to back this up. Just a hunch.

 

[EnjoyYourTiger]

^ Yup. Monday. I was at that game, everyone around me was like GONE and I'm like wind, people, wind.

 

[poodski]

^ Yup. Monday. I was at that game, everyone around me was like GONE and I'm like wind, people, wind.

Thats another reason. Its been windy and cold and he is in a new league.

I still fully expect him to be just fine.

 

[EnjoyYourTiger]

But still, there have been quite a few nice days with the wind blowing out and all that and Pena hasn't done anything. I was expecting him to have a couple homers by now. Hopefully, we'll wake up soon - we know he has the power, haha.

 

[Capt. Serious]

How can you say he'll be just 'fine'?

There's a reason why the Rays let him go.

 

[poodski]

How can you say he'll be just 'fine'?

There's a reason why the Rays let him go.

They couldn't afford him....

 

[bleacherbum54]

Proably next year with a new ball club

 

[waldo7239117]

How can you say he'll be just 'fine'?

There's a reason why the Rays let him go.

They let everone go. A lame reason lol.

 

[bleacherbum54]

They let everone go. A lame reason lol.

I mean the owner put a good product on the field and fans didnt show up last season. They proably couldnt afford him.

 

[daddies3angels]

He will hit for power...just been really disappointing so far.

 

[AddisonStation]

But still, there have been quite a few nice days with the wind blowing out and all that and Pena hasn't done anything. I was expecting him to have a couple homers by now. Hopefully, we'll wake up soon - we know he has the power, haha.

Ya but at least he gets on base. He's always been consistent there and if the power comes and he continues reaching base a lot itll be good. We will see but I think he'll still have a big power year.

 

[bleacherbum54]

He will hit for power...just been really disappointing so far.

I agree he will proably hit 25-30 like last year(just off track record) but he has played terrible so far.

 

[Captain Obvious]

Nice article Poods. I concur, too soon to be worried.

 

[ZAN]

We knew that Pena was just a stop-gap for the time being to do one of a couple scenarios being:

1. Allow his $10M to come off the books and let us go after Pujols next year (probably a pipe-dream, but we will have $40M+ to spend in FA this coming offseason.

2. Re-sign A-Ram for less (I can't see too many teams ponying up a lot for him, even if he bounces back this year) to stay at third whilst converting Vitters to 1B for the future; allowing us to spend that $30M left after we bring back A-Ram on a rotation, 2B (unless Barney plays out his rear all year), CF, and RF.

 

[X]

How can you say he'll be just 'fine'?

There's a reason why the Rays let him go.

well, umm...they let a lot of guys go...so not sure that argument is completely valid here.

:shrug:

 

[Rick]

Hard to tell. If you use last season as a reference I'd say no. I wasn't expecting much from him anyway so I won't be disappointed if he continues to be terrible for the rest of the year and if he gets going, I'll be pleasantly surprised.

 

[DewsSox79]

the panic about him really shouldnt be there. 1) It is early as hell 2)he isnt this big FA splash 3) he is just a tire patch until next offseason. relax. if he fails, oh well. if you get pujols or fielder next year and they are failing, than worry.

 

[bobferg]

His thumb is hurt. I don't know how many of you guys actually play/played baseball but it is pretty hard to get a solid grip on the bat if your thumb is messed up.

That being said I think he is a horrible player and, like it was pointed out earlier, the only saving grace is that he is a 1 year stop gap.

 

[cubsneedmiracle]

well, umm...they let a lot of guys go...so not sure that argument is completely valid here.

:shrug:

Its not valid..

They don't have money to keep players.