Hassan Peña

Hassan Peña Sánchez

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 2", Weight 210 lb.
• School Palm Beach Community College

• Born March 25, 1985 in Havana Cuba

BR Minors page

Biographical Information

Hassan Peña has pitched as high as AAA and has played in Cuba, the US, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Venezuela.

Peña was 4-4 with three saves and a 5.11 ERA in two seasons in the Cuban Serie Nacional, with 78 walks in 130 1/3 innings. He then defected in 2004 and went to junior college in the USA. The Washington Nationals took him in the 13th round of the 2006 amateur draft.

Hassan was signed by scout Tony Arango and made his pro debut with the 2007 Vermont Lake Monsters, going 4-5 with a 4.25 ERA. He walked 33 in 59 1/3 innings and tied for the New York-Penn League lead with three balks. In 2008, he pitched for the Potomac Cannons (2-2, 4.15) and Hagerstown Suns (2-2, 2.08).

Peña split 2009 between the GCL Nationals (0-1, 2.70 in 2 G), Hagerstown (1-0, 1.13 in 3 G) and Potomac (2-1, 2.39). He began 2010 with the Harrisburg Senators and was 2-2 with a save and a 4.29 ERA in 48 relief outings. He was 1-0 with a save and a 1.05 ERA in 23 games for the Leones de Ponce, allowing only 17 hits in 34 1/3 IP. He was second in the Puerto Rican League in games pitched, two behind Ben Grezlovski. In '11, he was with Harrisburg (2-2, 10 Sv, 2.73 in 40 G) and the Syracuse Chiefs (0-4, Sv, 19.29, 18 H in 7 IP). He tied Chance Ruffin for 10th in the Eastern League in saves.

Back with Ponce in 2011-2012, he was 3-2 with a 3.18 ERA, tying for 4th in the Puerto Rican League in wins and tied Nelvin Fuentes and R.J. Rodriguez for 3rd with 20 appearances. Spending all of 2012 in AAA with Syracuse, he went 3-5 with four saves and a 3.81 ERA in 42 games. With the Tomateros de Culiacán in 2012-2013, he was 0-2 with 13 saves and a 3.34 ERA, striking out 31 in 29 2/3 IP. He was second in the Mexican Pacific League in saves, four behind Oscar Villarreal.

The right-hander signed with the Tigres de Quintana Roo for 2013 and went 4-2 with 24 saves and a 3.33 ERA in 46 games. He saved the title-clincher for the Tigres. For the season, he tied Ricardo Gomez for 4th in the Mexican League in saves. He was 1-2 with 12 saves and a 2.45 ERA for the 2013-2014 Águilas del Zulia. He led the Venezuelan League in saves, 5 ahead of Pedro Rodríguez, and was named Closer of the Year. He was 0-1 in four games for the Navegantes del Magallanes in the 2014 Caribbean Series, allowing one hit and two walks in 3 2/3 IP but giving up two unearned runs on an error by Eduardo Escobar to break a scoreless tie in the 8th against the Indios de Mayagüez. For the Series, he tied Victor Marte, Jesus Martinez and Saul Rivera for the most games pitched.

Following his success in Latin America, he was signed by the Kansas City Royals. He was 1-0 with a save and a 4.50 ERA in five games for the Northwest Arkansas Naturals but walked 8 in 10 innings. Returning to Mexico, he struggled with Quintana Roo (0-1, 2 R in 2/3 IP) and the Sultanes de Monterrey (1-2, 6.43 in 15 G, 12 BB in 14 IP). Despite his poor summer play, he was again dominant in the winter, now spent with Magallanes. He was 0-1 with 19 saves and a 2.23 ERA in 31 games. He tied Kyler Newby for 5th in pitching appearances and led in saves (7 ahead of Cody Hall and Greg Infante). He tied John Hudek and Rich Garces for the 4th-most saves in a LVBP campaign (two behind Santos Hernandez, one shy of Porfi Altamirano and Tony Phillips). He was again named Closer of the Year, the first repeat winner since Garces in 2006/2007-2007/2008. He reinforced the Caribes de Anzoátegui for the 2015 Caribbean Series and tossed four shutout innings (3 H, 2 BB, 1 K) and saved a win over his old Culiacán club. He tied Rodríguez and Villarreal for the Series lead with four games pitched.

With Monterrey in 2015, Peña was 5-4 with 20 saves and a 2.56 ERA. He tied Francisco Rodriguez for 7th in the LMB in saves. He topped his 2014-2015 winter in his return to Magallanes for 2015-2016 in terms of saves, going 1-1 with 23 saves and a 2.76 ERA. He tied Rene Cortez for 7th in the league in games pitched (29) and led in saves by four over Pedro Rodríguez while breaking Hernandez's 18-year-old save record by two. Despite only three winters in Venezuela, he was two shy of cracking the top-10 in career saves, as Giovanni Carrara and Jay Baller each had 58; it took Carrara 24 seasons and Baller 5. He was the first pitcher to take Closer of the Year three years in a row; only Garces (4) had won more lifetime.