Fresno Grizzlies charging toward rare playoff appearance

For the first time since the Fresno Grizzlies’ debut season in 1998, a Pacific Coast League playoff berth appears imminent.

The Grizzlies — who are in their first season as the Triple-A affiliate of the Houston Astros — have the largest divisional lead in all of the PCL with 48 games remaining.

Fresno, which dropped a doubleheader Sunday to El Paso, leads second-place Tacoma by 10 games in the Pacific Northern Division as it heads out today on an 11-game, 12-day road trip. The winners of each of the PCL’s four divisions advance to the postseason, which begins Sept. 9.

And the team’s success comes as no surprise to Grizzlies’ catcher Max Stassi.

“That was our goal from day one, to go to the postseason and hopefully win a PCL championship,” Stassi said. “We have the talent. As long as guys stay healthy and don’t perform too well and go to the big leagues, we’ll be doing pretty well. We’re excited to keep things rolling here.”

Things haven’t always rolled so well in Fresno.

The Grizzlies enjoyed only five winning seasons in 17 years as an affiliate of the San Francisco Giants, who relocated to Sacramento in the offseason.

Houston, on the other hand, had winning seasons at its former Triple-A affiliate in Oklahoma City each of the previous three seasons, coinciding with the arrival of Astros’ general manager Jeff Luhnow and his overhaul of the organization’s minor league system.

After averaging 98 losses a season since their last winning year in 2008, the Astros currently hold one of the American League’s wild card spots and sit a game behind Anaheim in the AL West.

“Developing winning players is what we’re about. That’s our motto as an organization.” said Grizzlies manager Tony DeFrancesco, in his fifth season guiding Houston’s Triple-A team. “We need these players right when they get to the big leagues to contribute to a winning game. And these guys have been doing it.”

The Astros place an emphasis on winning at the minor league level. Besides the Grizzlies, Double-A Corpus Christi, Advanced-A Lancaster and Low-A Quad City have all already clinched postseason berths. And Houston’s short-season Class-A teams in Tri-City (half-game out of first) and Greenville (first place) are chasing playoff spots.

“We have a pretty stocked farm system,” Grizzlies pitcher Jake Buchanan said. “It’s expected. We feel like we should win. It’s the mindset.”

Stassi agreed.

“This organization is unlike a lot of organizations you play against, especially at the Triple-A level,” Stassi said. “We preach winning. We go out and try to win every day. A lot of organizations will tell you they want to win, but deep down you can see on a daily basis winning is not a top priority for them. But winning is a top priority for us. And at the younger levels, too. The sooner you can teach that, the sooner that can happen at the big league level.”

The Grizzlies have one of the most successful Triple-A managers in recent memory in DeFrancesco, who has posted a winning record in 10 of his 11 previous seasons at the level. His teams have made the postseason seven times, including three PCL titles during a seven-year run in Sacramento.

DeFrancesco demands attention to detail, stresses fundamentals and manages night in, night out like it was the seventh game of the World Series.

“He’s a competitor. That’s what you need in a manager, a guy who is going to show up every day and wants to win,” Stassi said. “That’s Tony D in a nutshell right there, the guy wants to win every single day and he’s going to help you out however he can. He creates a winning atmosphere around our clubhouse.”

The Grizzlies are set to return to Fresno on Aug. 1 and play 25 of their final 37 regular season games at Chukchansi Park. It’s a closing stretch that should conclude in a long-awaited playoff berth.

“The schedule is in our favor for sure,” DeFrancesco said. “I really don’t look down the road, but with the way the August schedule is, with this many home games, it is to our advantage because at home, you get the opportunity to bat last and win the game.”

This story was originally published July 19, 2015 at 9:07 PM with the headline "Fresno Grizzlies charging toward rare playoff appearance."