Astros Opening Day roster is great news for Jeremy Pena, Brice Matthews

The Houston Astros, coming into the 2026 MLB season, were dealing with a big question mark at two very important positions.

One of those spots was in the outfield, and the other was at shortstop. While the outfield battle between Zach Cole and Brice Matthews was a good thing, the issue at shortstop, thanks to Jeremy Pena's injury, was a problem.

However, as Chandler Rome of The Athletic reports, not only did the outfield battle get resolved in Matthew's favor, but the Astros got some great news on Pena, as both made the Opening Day roster.

Astros bring Jeremy Pena, Brice Matthews to Opening Day roster

"Jeremy Pena is on the Astros' Opening Day roster," Rome revealed. This wasn't a guarantee, as there has been one issue for Pena this spring: an injury. 

Pena has been dealing with a fracture in the tip of his right ring finger this spring after sustaining the injury on March 4th, playing for the Dominican Republic in their game against the Detroit Tigers.

While he's been nursing such an injury, he did get back on the field at the end of the spring and hit a home run to further convince the team he was ready to be back.

And with Opening Day just a day away, Pena has made the roster, dispelling any injury concerns for the star shortstop.

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But, he's not the only one, as Matthews, the 24-year-old Astros prospect, won a roster spot over Cole in the outfield for Houston.

"Brice Matthew made the Astros' Opening Day roster over Zach Cole, who has been optioned to Triple-A Sugar Land," Rome reports.

Matthews making the roster was the right move for the Astros, as he had a solid .817 OPS in spring training, which was a bit better than Cole's .740 OPS.

Cole should be back in the Majors for Houston at some point, but for now, he will head to the minor leagues as Mathews rounds out the Astros roster as a versatile option who can play both in the infield and the outfield.

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