Cal League High on Dean’s List

Second baseman Chris Dean is starting his third season in the California League, so you’d think that would be incentive to hit his way to double A.

But Dean, who entered Wednesday night’s game with a .480 average, isn’t looking at it that way.

“That’d be too much pressure,” said Dean, 23. “I just have to do my job wherever I am.”

Dean, who was four for four Monday, said there are positives playing in the Cal League.

“I know the league,” he said. “I kind of feel comfortable at home or on the road.”

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Today’s game:

San Bernardino (Jeff Williams, 1-0, 1.29) at JetHawks (Aaron Scheffer, 0-0, 15.43), 7:15 p.m.

Around the leagues

Right-hander Wayne Nix (Monroe High), the Oakland Athletics’ fourth-round pick in 1995, continues to rehabilitate from rotator cuff surgery he underwent about a year ago. Nix is working out with the A’s Cal League affiliate in Visalia, and he will report to extended spring training in Arizona in May. He is not expected to pitch until late this season, at the earliest.

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Brad Fullmer (Montclair Prep) started the season with the Montreal Expos’ double-A team in Harrisburg, Pa., but the organization doesn’t expect him to be there long.

“He’ll hit his way out of there,” said Neal Huntington, the Expos’ assistant director of player development.

Fullmer--who plays first base, third base and outfield--hit .303 last season at Class-A West Palm Beach, Fla., earning a late-season promotion to double A. He has been rated among the organization’s top prospects since signing in 1993, and is No. 3 in Baseball America magazine’s most recent listing.

Fullmer hit his first home run of the season on Tuesday.

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Scanning Tuesday’s box scores: Dan Chergey (Thousand Oaks) struck out five of six batters in the final two innings to pick up his first save for double-A Portland, Maine. . . . Pat Bryant (Cleveland) drove in the go-ahead run in the eighth inning to lead Trenton, N.J., to an 8-7 victory over Akron in a double-A game. . . . Del Marine (El Camino Real, Moorpark College) hit his first home run of the season for double-A Jacksonville, Fla. In the same game, Bryan Corey (Thousand Oaks, Pierce) recorded the final four outs for Jacksonville for his first save. . . . Former JetHawk Shane Monahan hit a grand slam in the bottom of the 10th for double-A Memphis, leading the Chicks to a 6-2 victory.