A Winding Road Sets Up Record Opportunities By John Kocsis Jr.
April 8, 2022 an outfielder who was rated by Baseball America and MLB.com as one of the Kansas City Royals’ top prospects was placed in the Fireflies Opening Day lineup at Segra Park. Prior to the start of the season, media lined up in a scrum around the Santo Domingo native to learn more about his sweet swing.
Scouts said his swing reminded them of Carlos Beltran—that’s no small praise. Beltran played 20 years in the show and launched 435 homers. On his journey, he won a World Series and received nine All-Star nods. It wasn’t just words from scouts either. Erick Peña signed a $3,897,500 contract with the Royals in 2019-2020, as he was ranked the fifth-best International prospect in that signing period. MLB.com scouts graded him with a 50 hit tool and a 55 power tool on the 20-80 scale. The impact he made was immediate. On Opening Night 2022, Peña smoked a three-run homer in the bottom of the ninth, the first of a few walk-off blasts he would hit in the neon and navy. 6,186 fans cheered as the Fireflies scored seven unanswered behind four Peña RBI to earn their first win of the season. Here we are, two years and a month later and the journey has been a windy one for the outfielder. Peña finished the 2022 season hitting .149 in 82 games. He clubbed nine homers, but struck out 121 times in the process, so he rejoined Columbia for another chance to find his groove in 2023. The next year, there was less fanfare for the coming of the outfielder. This time, the focus for media and the fans watching Columbia was some wild pitching climbing its way through the system. The club had the best ERA in all of Minor League Baseball in the first half of the season and that opening things up for the Fireflies to try to make their first playoff run in franchise history. 2023 saw some firsts for Pena too. He had his first multi-homer game in another big comeback win for the Fireflies May 3 against the Myrtle Beach Pelicans. One of his two homers counted as his second walk-off bomb in his Fireflies career. Peña saw an increase in power as he launched 10 homers in his second season in the Soda City. It was another big strikeout season for Peña who punched out 153 times in 75 games, but he saw positive growth, increasing his on-base percentage by 18 points year-over-year and drawing six additional walks in seven fewer games year-over-year. It all set up a chance at history in the 2024 season. The outfielder started the season with 19 homers, comfortably in third place in franchise history, chasing all-time Fireflies homer leader Dash Winningham by six homers. Winningham played for Columbia in 2016 and 2017 when the team was affiliated with the
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