Royals' Tony Pena Moving From Shortstop to Pitcher

Tony Pena already hits like a pitcher, so the Royals decided to see if he could throw like one too. That's actually not fair to pitchers, Pena hits like the kid picked last during gym who would prefer perfecting his cursive to do anything athletic.

He always flashed a fine glove at shortstop, but a career OPS+ of 44 (including a mind-boggling -32 OPS+ in 51 at bats this season) was way too much for any fielding excellence to overcome. Pena threw a bullpen session on Friday and will report to the team's Arizona facility to work as a pitcher.

Unless you're a pitcher in the American League, there's a lot of reason to like this move.

Pena actually pitched an inning during a game against the Tigers in 2008, and topped 90 with his fastball while cruising through a 1-2-3 inning. Small sample size to be sure, but that's enough to put him ahead of Kyle Farnsworth on K.C.'s pecking order. Harness that speed, teach him another pitch and have him consult with his father, longtime catcher and Yankee coach Tony Pena, and he could wind up being a serviceable reliever.

There are other reasons to like the move. Who wouldn't want to see if Trey Hillman, or whoever succeeds him in the Royals dugout, has enough moxie to employ Pena as part of a relief duo to foil any lefty-righty-lefty matchups in a late inning? You could have Pena face a righty, move to shortstop while a lefty comes in and then move back to the mound to face the second righty.

That would be fun to watch, especially if they matched him with Ron Mahay. Mahay was an outfielder before moving to pitcher himself, and as a lefty he'd be the perfect second half of the most versatile pitching combo in the majors. The only sticking point is that you'd lose the designated hitter, but when you're already using Mike Jacobs in the role all things are relative.

Finally, let's all cross our fingers and hope that the Royals make a deal for the Tony Pena who currently pitches in relief for the White Sox. Tony Pena relieving Tony Pena is an amusing thought, even if the White Sox's Pena started his career pitching under a different name so he could lie about his age. That last tidbit brings us full circle, as a name and age change was probably the only other route the Royals' Pena could have gone to keep playing in the bigs.