This Grizzlies player loves hearing the Fresno State fight song. ‘My favorite thing’

EJ Andrews Jr. has spent three seasons with the Fresno Grizzlies.

While it’s not ideal for a player to be with a Class-A team for three seasons, Andrews Jr. is perfectly fine with that because he knows it’s a process.

“I always love coming back to Fresno,” he said. “Fresno is never going to have a bad spot in my heart. I’m always going to love coming out here. I’m always going to come out busy even if I’m not playing out here and stuff like that as far as just being my third year on the same team in baseball. With the demand of where professional baseball is, there’s a lot of good players with a 20-round draft instead of 40.

“Having a jersey on my back, it still means I have an opportunity to make it to the big leagues.”

Andrews Jr. played college baseball at Fresno State under then-coach Mike Batesole.

He was selected in the 13th round by the Colorado Rockies in the 2021 Major League Baseball draft.

In his final season at Fresno State as a junior, Andrews Jr. was named to the All-Mountain West second team after hitting .325 with nine home runs and led the conference with 32 walks. He also drove in 29 runs.

In seven games for the Grizzlies this season, Andrews has a double, four RBI and scored five times. He said he’s going to continue to improve and hopes to get a promotion. For now, he’s going to make the most of his time in Fresno.

“(Rockies) still trust to kind of go out there and perform and for giving me all that opportunity,” he said

Andrews Jr. said he enjoys playing for the Grizzlies, but the one thing he notices is every time he gets a hit, the Grizzlies will play the Fresno State fight song.

He said that gets him going.

“It’s honestly one of my favorite things to be able to hear that song,” he said. “It’s one of those ties that kind of takes back to my college years. It also kind of reminds me of where I’m at now and just still being in Fresno. It’s an awesome moment to have.”