What the Fox!?
Ordinarily I have little to say while the I-Cubs are on the road. My commentary usually takes the form of eyewitness accounts. But one big club is wandering the desert [both literally and otherwise] which means a long day's journey into gametime and another big club is in Nashville laying waste to PCL pitching staffs. I thought we might kill some time with a closer look at the latter.
After last night's two-homer game Jake Fox has a pile of stats like the stack of chips in front of the big winner at a poker game.
In 18 games he's hit 11 trotters and knocked in 29 runs! 19 of his league-leading 31 hits have been for extra bases. He's batting .443 with an OPS of 1.549. He already has amassed 73 total bases, just over four per game! True, he's fanned 20 times against only eight walks, but he's also played errorlessly so far at 1B.
For the sake of some perspective it might be useful to note that Big Jake's competition at the top of some of the PCL's hitting categories is none other than Matt Murton. Murton's off to a .411 start with Colorado Springs but 20 of his 30 hits have been singles. His OPS is 1.133 but he has, get this, swiped five bases without being caught. Fox is 1-1 in that category, he being more of a distance runner than a sprinter.
Last year Micah Hoffpauir totaled 100 RBI in just 70 games with Iowa. Will Fox be here long enough to find out if he can equal or surpass that remarkable rate of run production?
IN OTHER NEWS:
Jason Waddell, the bullpen lefty, is pure no more. He gave up his first three runs of the season and took the loss in Saturday's road trip opener...Is Jose Ascanio being stretched out or just exiled? Last year's sometimes I-Cub closer has had four starts and leads the league with a somewhat misleading ERA of 0.54. But his innings pitched have been four, four, four and two thirds and four. The corresponding pitch counts were 55, 54, 74 and 68. Are they extending him to be a long reliever? Mission accomplished...Bobby Scales has played 3B in all three games since Aramis Ramirez was hurt on Saturday afternoon in St. Louis...MW
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