High School Tradition
All in the family: Peavy trio makes it a special time at Dekaney
Josh Koch
Nov 6, 2017, 12:00 pm
Dekaney’s Micah Peavy. Photo by Diana Porter
Originally appeared on Vype.com.
It was always his dream to get the opportunity to coach his sons. David Peavy – who is in his third year at Dekaney High School – enters his second season of getting to do just that. DJ is a senior, while Micah enters his sophomore campaign.
“It’s really unbelievable,” David said. “It’s something I been wanting to do since I started coaching.”
In 2014, DJ was a freshman at Steele High School in San Antonio and was the starting point guard. Sitting in the stands watching was David.
David had stepped back from coaching for the year and was serving as the athletic director of Akins High School in Austin.
Following his freshman season, DJ approached his dad about coaching him in high school.
The duo headed east to Houston and landed at Dekaney High School. This gave them the father- son, coach-player combo they had dreamed of.
“Playing for my dad can be hard at times but at the end of the day I know he wants the best for me,” DJ said. “And both of us are trying to do the same thing – win.”
Since the 2015-2016 season, David and DJ have been together on the court. Last year Micah moved up to the high school level and joined the group.
“Being able to have my dad and brother as my biggest supporters and my biggest critics makes me even better,” DJ said. “That is the best part to me.”
Last season for Dekaney, DJ averaged 14.5 points and 3.6 rebounds per game. DJ only trailed University of Texas football commit Malcolm Epps in points per game and was fourth on the team in rebounds.
DJ recently committed to Mercer to continue his basketball career.
“Whenever I went on my visit to Mercer I felt it was a perfect fit,” DJ said. “Love the style of play, opportunity to play right away and a chance to win.”
With this being DJ’s senior year, David said he is happy with where he is at heading into it.
“I don’t know what it is going to be like when we start getting a little closer to the end,” David said. “Everything just feels good. I feel comfortable with his development as a player and as a young man to this point.
I’m excited for him in his senior year that he has a chance to do something special here at Dekaney.”
Despite this being his last year and already committed to play college basketball, DJ said he still sees things he needs to improve on.
“I have to improve being a better vocal leader,” DJ said. “The past two years we had people who were, and now I have to step up and be that guy for the team.”
When asked about his ultimate goal for his senior year, the answer just took three words.
“To win state,” DJ said.
This article appeared in the October Issue of VYPE Magazine. Pick up your copy today!
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All-Star balloting opened up this week for what used to be known as the Midsummer Classic in Major League Baseball. I guess some still refer to it as such but the All-Star Game has been largely a bore for many years, though the honor of being selected on merit remains a big one. As always, fans can vote at all positions except pitcher. The fan balloting has resulted in mostly good selections for years now, though pretty much all teams still do silly marketing stuff trying to drum up support for their players. The Astros’ part in that silliness is their campaign to make it the “All-’Stros” game on the American League squad in Atlanta next month. It’s one thing to be supportive of your team, it’s another to be flat out ridiculous if voting right now for Yainer Diaz, Christian Walker, Yordan Alvarez, Mauricio Dubon, or Cam Smith. The Astros tried to game the system in submitting Jose Altuve as a second baseman where the competition is weaker than it is in the outfield, but given Altuve has played only about 25 percent of the games at second base this season he should not be an All-Star second baseman selectee for what would be the tenth time in his career.
Isaac Paredes’s recent freefall notwithstanding, he has a legitimate case as a backup third baseman, especially with Alex Bregman likely missing more than a month of games due to his quad injury. Jake Meyers is having a fine season but is obviously not an All-Star-worthy outfielder unless he is sensational for the rest of June. That leaves Jeremy Peña, who is simply the best shortstop in the big leagues so far this season. To be clear, no team in baseball (including the Astros) would rather have Peña going forward than the Royals’ Bobby Witt Jr., but we’re talking about the here and now. There are another 100 games to be played, but Peña not only is about a lock to deserve his first All-Star nod, but he is in contention to put in the books the greatest season ever by an Astro shortstop.
Over his first three seasons, Peña was a consistently mediocre offensive player. His highest batting average was .266, best on-base percentage .324, top slugging percentage .426. He is blowing away all those numbers thus far in 2025. While unlikely to come close to reaching his preseason goal of 50 stolen bases, Peña is swiping bags at the best success rate of his career. Add in Peña’s stellar defense and that he has played in every Astros’ game so far this season, and Peña has been irrefutably one of the 10 best and most valuable players in the American League. You could certainly argue as high as top three.
If Peña's productivity holds up for the rest of the season there are only three other seasons posted by Astro shortstops that are in the same league as what would be Peña’s 2025. Carlos Correa has two of them. Lack of durability may be the biggest reason Correa is not tracking to be a Hall of Famer. In only two seasons as an Astro did Correa play in more than 136 games. He was fabulous in each of them. 2021 was his peak campaign, playing in 148 games while compiling an .850 OPS, winning a Gold Glove, and finishing fifth in AL MVP voting. Correa’s Baseball-Reference wins above replacement number for 2021 was 7.3. Peña is at 3.6 with nearly 20 games still left before the midway point of the schedule.
For the other great Astro shortstop season you have to go back to 1983. Dickie Thon turned 25 years old in June of ‘83. He put up a .798 OPS, which gains in stature given Thon played his home games in the Astrodome when the Dome was at its most pitching-friendly. Thon won the Silver Slugger Award as the best offensive shortstop in the National League, and played superior defense. His Baseball-Reference WAR number was 7.4. He finished seventh for NL MVP playing for an 85-77 Astros’ squad that finished third in the NL West. Dickie Thon looked like an emerging superstar. Then, in the fifth game of the 1984 season, a fastball from Mets’ pitcher Mike Torrez hit Thon in the left eye, fracturing his orbital bone. Thon missed the rest of the ‘84 season. While Thon played in nine more big league seasons, his vision never fully recovered and he was never the same player. It’s one of the biggest “What if...” questions in Astros’ history.
Arms race
Players and the Commissioner’s Office pick the All-Star pitching staffs. Unless he suddenly starts getting lit up regularly, Hunter Brown can pack a bag for Georgia. Framber Valdez wouldn’t make it now but has surged into contention. Josh Hader’s first half is going vastly better than last year’s, so he is in line for a reliever spot.
For Astro-centric conversation, join Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and me for the Stone Cold ‘Stros podcast which drops each Monday afternoon, with an additional episode now on Thursday. Click here to catch!
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