PCL Players of the Week April 3-13
ROUND ROCK, Texas - Jon Singleton of the Oklahoma City RedHawks and Tsuyoshi Wada of the Iowa Cubs have been named Pacific Coast League Player and Pitcher of the Week for the extended opening week of April 3rd-13th, the league office announced today.
Jon Singleton is off to a strong start in 2014, accumulating a .325 batting average, four home runs, and 15 RBI, while helping the RedHawks climb to the top of the American Northern Division standings. The first baseman is tied for the league lead with 29 total bases, while his home run and RBI totals are the second-highest in the PCL. Singleton has accounted for at least one run in nine of Oklahoma City's 11 games to start the year and owns a .725 slugging percentage. The California native pounded out three hits, including one homer and two RBI, during an extra-inning victory on April 13th over the New Orleans Zephyrs.
Singleton is in his sixth professional season since being drafted by Philadelphia Phillies in the 8th round of the 2009 First-Year Player Draft out of Millikan High School in Long Beach, Calif. The 22-year-old was acquired by the Houston Astros on July 29, 2011, in a five-player trade that sent Hunter Pence to the Phillies. The Player of the Week accolade is the fourth of his minor league career and the first since 2012 when he was a member of the Corpus Christi Hooks in the Texas League.
Tsuyoshi Wada has been dominant on the mound in two starts this season, earning wins against the Nashville Sounds and Memphis Redbirds. In his April 12th outing at Memphis, he held the Redbirds, who were at the time the highest-scoring team in the league, scoreless for 6.2 innings while punching out ten batters. Wada's 18 strikeouts this season are tied for the second-most in the PCL. In 13.1 innings pitched this year, the left-hander has yielded seven hits, one run, and one walk for a 0.60 WHIP.
Wada's 0.68 ERA and .149 average against are each second-best in the PCL. After playing nine seasons in Japan, he was signed by the Baltimore Orioles on Dec. 14, 2011. Wada underwent Tommy John surgery in 2012, and then signed with the Chicago Cubs on Jan. 24th, 2014. The Pitcher of the Week selection is the first of his three-year minor league career.