Fresno Grizzlies: Presley is on Fire

Well the biggest news of the week out of Fresno is that super prospect Carlos Correa could be joining the team at any time. With the way the Fresno Grizzlies have been playing, they could sure use a boost, having lost six of their last ten, but they do hold a 4-3 record over the past week, going 2-1 against Tacoma (Mariners), and 2-2 against El Paso (Padres).

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The Grizzlies had a relatively quiet week in the way of transactions, but the big news was when Preston Tucker was called up after his blazing hot start to the PCL season after George Springer went on the seven-day DL. Tucker, who lead PCL sluggers in home runs and rbi at the time of his call-up, is 1-for-9 (.111) with the Astros, but that one hit tied the game in Anaheim in his major league debut. Tucker has also walked twice against one strikeout.

The Grizzlies promoted right-handed pitcher Jonas Dufek and utility infielder Chan Moon from Corpus Christi while Matt Duffy landed on the seven day DL. Dufek held a 4.32 ERA in 8 1/3 innings with the Hooks and has pitched four innings for Fresno, including last night’s four hits and three earned in three innings of work. He currently holds a 6.75 ERA in Triple-A.

Moon, 24, has already made stops at Lancaster, Corpus and now Fresno this season. He appeared in three games with the Hooks, including eight total at bats and a 4-for-4 outing on Wednesday. This is purely speculation, but the quick promotions of Moon could be the team’s way of seeing if they have a replacement for Jonathan Villar‘s role at the major league level. Although, if they were to promote Correa, Marwin Gonzalez could just take over the utility role.

The last transaction involves Asher Wojciechowski, whose Sky Miles must be reaching reward levels, who was promoted to Houston yet again on Friday. Closer Luke Gregerson was placed on the family emergency medical list, and will be out until at least Monday.

Now for the action on the field! Alex Presley had an Altuve-esque week, collecting multiple hits in each game that he started, going 11-for-22 (.500) with four rbi and six runs scored. Jon Singleton, who had a rough week last we checked in, but went 6-for-25 (.240) with three home runs, five runs scored and seven driven in his past seven. One intriguing Singleton note is that he has struggled against lefties this season, which is generally considered the norm for left-handed batters, but he hit .247 against them in the majors last season. With Fresno, he is 4-for-41 (.098) against southpaws, while he’s 20-for-62 (.323) against righties.

Jordan Jankowski collected two wins for the Grizzlies this week, one last Sunday in an inning of work, and another on Thursday in 1 1/3 innings. In his three appearances this week (4 1/3 innings pitched) Jankowski totaled 95 pitches thrown, but only 50 were strikes. His WHIP sits at 1.69 on the season, and the opposition is batting .246 off the 25 year old righty, but some how, some way, he continues to get the job done and has lowered his ERA to 1.69.

To put this in perspective, he’s walked twelve batters in sixteen innings, or close to one an inning, while his career rate is 2.2 per nine. His career WHIP is a solid 1.12 and opponents have hit .229 against him in previous seasons. So, by the numbers, he’s having a bad year compared to his career averages, yet his ERA is nearly a run and a half lower than his career mark of 3.08. None of this makes sense, but that’s baseball for ya!

The Grizzlies have two more games against Tacoma at home before heading out to face Albuquerque (Rockies) for four, followed by a four game set in El Paso. The Grizzlies are currently half a game behind Sacramento (Giants) for first place in the PCL Pacific Northern division, holding a 15-14 record. The friendly confines of Chukchansi Park have been good to the home team, with Fresno holding a 12-6 record, compared to a 3-8 record on the road.

Next: The Correa Timeline