Three years ago, Carlos Pena was considered one of the brightest young prospects in the major leagues.

He was a front-runner for rookie of the year honors in the American League.

Pena was labeled a can t-miss prospect.

He was the guy who was supposed to make the Oakland Athletics fans forget about Bay Area icon Jason Giambi.

Pena struggled mightily after being handed the starting job in 2002.

Less than a month into the season, he was shipped back to Triple-A.

In early July, the Athletics sent him packing, dealing him to Detroit as part of a three-team trade that sent ace Jeff Weaver to the New York Yankees.

The Tigers immediately began pumping Pena as a future star after he hit 12 home runs in the final 75 games.

Many predicted Pena would be a .300 hitter who would slug 20 or more home runs a year.

Once again, the expectations were unreasonable.

Pena belted a combined 45 homers in 2003 and 2004, but 14 of those came in the final 52 games a year ago when the Tigers were well out of contention.

Last month, Pena reached the low point of his career.

His numbers were so pathetic he was hitting .181 with three homers and 14 RBIs in 41 games, and his .283 slugging percentage was the third-worst in the majors the Tigers bumped Pena back to Triple-A, and recalled first baseman Chris Shelton from the Mud Hens.

The pressure to produce in Detroit proved to be too much for the 27-year-old Pena, who is being paid $2.575 million in the final year of his contract.

I wanted to do well in Detroit, but when things were not working out for me, I kind of felt the pressure a little bit, to be honest with you, Pena said yesterday after the Hens dropped a 3-1 decision to the Norfolk Tides at Fifth Third Field. I didn t feel good about it.

Although Pena was having a miserable season in the majors, his attitude has remained upbeat since he returned to the minors.

He doesn t have a $75 million attitude like slugger Magglio Ordonez, who is in Toledo on a rehab assignment.

If I would have shown up here with a bad attitude, that would not have been fair to my teammates, my coaches, or myself. I don t even think about getting back to the big leagues. I don t dwell on it. I know the position I m in. All I can do is play hard and play up to my abilities and trust my abilities. If I do that, someone will notice.

Pena, who still commutes daily from Detroit, went 1-for-4 yesterday with two strikeouts. He is hitting .312 with three homers and 19 RBIs in 26 games with the Hens, but he also has struck out 25 times.

His bat has looked slow, and his fielding has been shaky.

Yesterday, Pena mishandled a low throw from second baseman Ryan Raburn in the second inning that resulted in the winning run.

He s got a lot to work on, Hens manager Larry Parrish said. He needs to get his confidence back and trust his swing at the plate.

In other words, Pena has plenty of work to do if he wants to get back to the big leagues.

First Published June 30, 2005, 10:01 a.m.