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PrintValley Wallace’s Houston Astros batting average still rising
Open field
By Steven Serafini
Apr 25, 2011 - 02:41 PM
Under loads of pressure to produce both offensively and defensively at the Major League level after being penned in as the starting first-baseman for the National League’s Houston Astros, Sonoma’s Brett Wallace had to endure a slow start before steadily improving both with the bat and in the field.
With the Astros depending on the play of a core of young players, including Wallace, the wins have been hard to come by, but progress is slowly being made, with the outlook getting brighter with each game.
After being stuck deep below the “Mendoza Line” – under a .200 batting average – during the first week of the season, Wallace has been swinging a productive bat that has fueled the rise of his batting average. After his two doubles and two runs scored in Sunday’s 9-6 win over the Milwaukee Brewers, his average is up to an impressive .324.
Wallace, a former high-school (Justin-Siena in Napa) and college (Arizona State University) All-American, was the first-round draft choice of the St. Louis Cardinals. He was then traded to the Oakland A’s, where he played at Oakland’s Triple-A Sacramento River Cats before being dealt to Toronto, where he stood out playing for Toronto’s AAA minor league team in Las Vegas.
After Toronto traded him to the Astros, Wallace had a one-day stay with Houston’s Triple-A Round Rock (Texas) Express team before being called up to the Major League squad, where he’s now paying dividends for the young Astros.
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