Houston Astros shortstop Jeremy Peña is engaged to be married to one of the top professional soccer players in the world, per an announcement on Instagram.
Peña and his fiancée, Canadian soccer star Julia Grosso, made the joint announcement on the social media platform and that report was disseminated by multiple outlets. A formal date for the wedding wasn’t announced.
Peña is now a linchpin in the Astros’ future as a franchise. The second-year arbitration-eligible star is coming off his best offensive season since his rookie year and, amid trade rumors, Houston general manager Dana Brown recently said the team has no plans to deal him.
Peña made his MLB debut in 2022 during the Astros’ second World Series title run and was named both the ALCS MVP and the World Series MVP. He finished fifth in AL Rookie of the Year voting and won an AL Gold Glove after he slashed .253/.289/.426 with 22 home runs and 63 RBI.
His numbers have been up and down since then, but 2025 represented a peak for him at the plate. He slashed .304/.363/.477 with 17 home runs and 62 RBI. He was named an All-Star for the first time and was 10th in AL MVP voting. Peña doesn’t yet have a deal for 2026 with Houston and is under team control through 2027. An extension is possible, but he’ll have a robust free-agent market after the 2027 season, and he may wish to explore that.
Peña and Grosso have been known to be dating since December of 2004.
Peña isn’t the first MLB player to become engaged and marry a women’s pro soccer star. Chicago Cubs shortstop Dansby Swanson married the former Mallory Pugh, who plays for the MLS franchise in Chicago and was part of Team USA’s gold medal-winning in team the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. She didn’t play in 2025 as she delivered the couple’s first child.
Mallory Swanson was already with Chicago when Dansby Swanson signed with the Cubs in the 2022 offseason.
Grosso just happens to be Swanson’s teammate in Chicago. The Vancouver, B.C., native player her college soccer at the University of Texzas, where she graduated in 2021. From there, she went on to play professionally for Juventus for three seasons in Italy. She signed with the Chicago Red Stars in 2024.
With the Canadian National Team, she has 79 caps, five goals and scored the gold medal-winning goal for the team in the 2020 Summer Olympics in Japan. She also played for Team Canada in the 2024 games.
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