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2002 season October 27, 2002
The homerun race heated up even more this week, as it's now a three-man race between Mark Teixeira, Taggart Bozied and Hee Seop Choi ... Bobby Jenks and Dave Sanders each finally gave up an earned run ... Oh yeah, Ken Harvey kept hitting like crazy ... Not to be completely outdone by the World Series, Week Four of the 2002 Arizona Fall League season was another good one. The race for the HR
crown: Three AFL sluggers are
in a spirited race for the league homerun championship, with each man also
having a shot at the season record of 11 homers, held by four different
players. Taggart Bozied (Padres - 1B) smacked his sixth of the
year on Tuesday to move into a tie with Peoria teammate Mark Teixeira
(Rangers - 3B). Hee Seop Choi's (Cubs - 1B) showed
his muscle later in the week, as the left-handed hitting Korean native
went deep three days in a row, including a
10th inning game-winner on Thursday, to tie Bozied and Teixeira. After Choi hit number six in the
first inning of Saturday's rain-shortened game at Mesa against Peoria, Teixeira came back four innings later with his seventh of the
season. Bozied followed with his seventh shot of the season this
afternoon ...
The Weekly Harvey Report: AFL pitchers finally found a way to hold the AFL leading hitter, Ken Harvey (Royals - 1B), this week. The big first baseman for the Scottsdale Scorpions was given a day off on Friday afternoon. When in the lineup, Harvey went 11 for 17, with three doubles and four RBIs, to finish the week at .545.
On the hill: Horacio Ramirez (Braves - P) continues to dominate AFL hitters. His only outing this week came this afternoon, as the 22-year-old southpaw from California threw five no-hit innings against Maryvale, striking out four and walking one. Ramirez faced the minimum 15 batters during his stint, with the lone runner being wiped out in a double play ... Luke Hudson (Reds - P) had a strong outing as he continues to impress scouts and fans. The Cincinnati farmhand, who spent a portion of the 2002 season with the major league team, pitched four shutout innings against the powerful Peoria team, yielding only one hit while fanning nine batters. Hudson has now recorded 24 strikeouts in his 15.2 innings of work ... Hudson's Cincinnati teammate, Bobby Basham (Reds - P), also posted a strong four-inning performance this week to lower his ERA to 0.66 after 13.2 innings ... Josh Stewart (White Sox - P) pitched four scoreless innings in his Wednesday afternoon start against Grand Canyon. After 17.1 IPs, Stewart's ERA is a microscopic 0.52 ...
The Yankees may want to reconsider the decision to drop Adrian Hernandez (Yankees - P) from their 40-man roster. Pitching mostly two-inning stints out of the bullpen, Hernandez has been particularly effective lately. He didn't give up a run or a hit in either appearance, striking out five batters in his four innings of work. Question marks???: Choo Freeman (Rockies - OF) started showing signs in 2002 of fulfilling his enormous potential, but the 23-year-old outfielder has struggled in the AFL, batting only .178 with 17 strikeouts in 45 at bats. Freeman swings at too many pitches out of the strike zone, appears to lose concentration on the base paths, and has trouble getting good jumps on fly balls. It looks like he's still a work in progress ... Mike Restovich (Twins - OF), who had a strong season in AAA this year, has struggled since reporting in the second week of the season. The big right-handed hitter has had trouble catching up with fastballs ... Drew Henson (Yankees - 3B) doesn't look like the same fearsome hitter who played in the AFL last season, as he is struggling to keep his average above the .200 mark. He looks to be pressing and doesn't seem to be having very much fun.
In and out:
AFL newcomers Eric Munson (Tigers - 3B), Steve Smitherman
(Reds - OF), Ben Johnson (Padres - OF) and Bryan Digby (Braves - P) made their debuts
this week, while Bill Hall (Brewers - SS) was in uniform for the
first time ... Francisco Rosario (Blue Jays - P) underwent Tommy
John surgery and will miss most, if not all, of the 2003 season ... Marcus Thames (Yankees - OF) left the AFL to
play winter ball in Puerto Rico ... Xavier
Nady (Padres - OF) is now gone from the Peoria roster due to a
strained quadriceps.
-------------- Weeknight Arizona Fall League games will be back this week with the
completion of the exciting World Series. AFL alumni Troy Percival
and Garret Anderson played key roles in Anaheim's seventh game
victory tonight. --- Bill Mitchell All photos on the
Arizona Fall League Report are credited to Bill Mitchell, unless noted
otherwise, and are not to be used for any other purpose without express
permission. |
