Houston Astros Triple-A Report: Singleton Struggling, Monthly Awards

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Mar 8, 2015; Lakeland, FL, USA; Houston Astros first baseman Jon Singleton (21) at bat against the Detroit Tigers at a spring training baseball game at Joker Marchant Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

The Houston Astros Triple-A affiliate Fresno Grizzlies are in a bit of a slump over the past six games, spanning seven days. This past week the Grizzlies went 2-4, being outscored 27-19 over this span, and having accumulated just four runs in their past three games with outputs of three, zero and one. With this slide, Fresno finds themselves looking up in the division at Sacramento, but still just a half game back of first with an 11-11 record.

Preston Tucker continues to impress, going 7-for-22 since last Sunday, including another three home runs and eight runs batted in. Tucker still leads the Pacific Coast League in both categories. What’s most impressive about Tucker through the first month is that while he has 17 strikeouts in 88 at-bats (19.3%), he has only struck out multiple times in a game twice this season. At the very least he’s making contact, and doesn’t seem to be getting fooled much either, as evidenced by his home run total and .318 batting average.

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Domingo Santana has also been making some loud contact this season, belting two home runs last Sunday, giving him a total of five on the season. That’s good for seventh (with eight other players) in the PCL. Jon Singleton went hitless this week, going 0-for-16 with six strikeouts. On the bright side, he did work five walks to maintain a solid on-base percentage of .337, but his batting average fell from .266 on Monday to .218 following last night’s game.

There was some roster movement throughout the course of the week with Houston visiting San Diego, so here is the list of transactions from the past week if you missed anything.

Roster Moves:

Asher Wojciechowski optioned to Fresno, L.J. Hoes called up to Houston

Jed Lowrie placed on the D.L., Jonathan Villar recalled to Houston

Brett Oberholtzer added to the roster for rehab assignment

Hoes sent back to Fresno, Kevin Chapman called up to Houston

Joe Sclafani assigned to Fresno Grizzlies from Corpus Christi

While the offense ranks 5th in runs scored with 118 (Las Vegas has the most with 148), the pitching in Fresno has been struggling a bit with a team ERA of 4.96, ranking 13th out of 16 teams. While the team as a whole may be struggling, there have been some notable performances. Next, we’ll hand out some monthly awards for their achievements, as well as the achievements of the offensive side.

Next: Monthly Awards