Francisco Pena, the son of former major league catcher Tony Pena, is making the most of his situation in Las Vegas. He basically inherited the starting catching job with Travis d’Arnaud and Juan Centeno on the disabled list, and is doing his best to make us forget about those other two guys.

Pena has come to the plate in seven games with Las Vegas, and is hitting a robust .385 with four homers and 10 RBI. The highlight of his seven game tenure came yesterday, where he cracked two home runs and added four RBI. His OPS over the seven games, a ridiculous 1.292.

What can be the cause for this offensive explosion from Pena? In 21 games with Binghamton he had 17 hits, no home runs, and only four RBI. He already has 10 hits with Vegas, and eclipsed the other two marks. It’s truly remarkable. Could it be that he is simply on a hot streak, or is it a result of being in a hitter’s league? Maybe it’s something else…

I love that commercial. It was one of my favorite commercials growing up as a kid. I can’t eat a green M&M without thinking about hitting a home run. Pena may have a jar of green M&Ms next to his bed in Las Vegas.

I am reminded of a scouting report I read on Pena a couple of years back and what John Sickels had to say about Pena’s future: “He sucks. He can’t hit and I don’t think he’ll start. He has a good arm but is still raw behind the plate. Maybe he’ll make it as a backup, but I don’t buy him as a regular at all.”

It sure doesn’t look like that is the case anymore.