On Thursday, the Fresno Grizzlies announced that they will become the Triple-A affiliate of the Houston Astros beginning next season. They signed a two-year player development contract with the Astros that will keep them affiliated with the club through the 2016 season. This move greatly benefits the Houston Astros organization for a number of reasons.

Firstly, the Astros will play 67 of their 162 games next season against west coast teams. With Fresno, California being a lot closer to the ballparks of the west coast teams in Major League Baseball than Oklahoma City, Oklahoma -- the Astros Triple-A affiliate for the past four seasons -- transactions between Triple-A and the Major League club with be a little easier for the Astros over the next two seasons.

Another reason that this move is beneficial for the Astros is the fact that Chukchansi Park is one of the more pitcher-friendly ballparks in the Pacific Coast League -- which is predominantly filled with hitter-friendly ballparks. It features a semi-irregular shaped field with dimensions measuring 324 feet down the left field line, 385 in left center, 400 in center field and 335 feet down the right field line. Expect the number of hits to be lower at Chukchansi Park than the number of hits at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark, home of the Oklahoma City Redhawks, next season. 

This move will certainly help the Astros as they expect a few of their top pitching prospects to be playing in Triple-A next season. This will help them develop the young arms in their farm system a little easier and give them more confidence moving forward. The Houston Astros' organization is definitely trying to avoid seeing another awkward sky-high ERA like the one that was posted by their top pitching prospect Mark Appel this past season. The right-handed hurler posted a 9.74 ERA in twelve starts for the High-A Lancaster Jethawks -- who play in an extremely hitter-friendly league.

Chukchansi Park opened in 2002 and can hold about 12,500 fans. They have finished in the top half of the Pacific Coast League in attendance the past ten seasons, bringing in over 460,00 fans to the ballpark.

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