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2002 season November 3, 2002
Several of the AFL's less heralded players turned in great performances this week, showing the depth of talent in the Arizona Fall League this year. However, the teams are starting to run short on healthy arms, causing the league to limit Saturday's games to seven inning contests. A couple of crowd favorites from last season showed up this week to fill roster spots. Oh yeah, the weather in Arizona was fantastic this week! Better than expected:
There have never been any questions about Dane Sardinha's (Reds -
C) defense behind the plate. Instead, many experts have questioned
whether the 23-year-old backstop will hit well enough to be a regular at
the major league level.
Sardinha is now looking like the best catcher in the AFL this year.
After a strong week, including six RBIs in two days and an impressive homerun muscled to the
opposite field, he's hitting .301 with seven
doubles, four round trippers and 21 RBIs ... Chip Ambres (Marlins - OF) was
known as a "tools" player coming into the AFL, but the
22-year-old Texan has shown more improvement than any other player in
the first five weeks. He had a four-hit game Friday night, including
three doubles, and finished the week at .309 with 11 extra base hits. A
solid combination of power and speed, Ambres is a good bet for a
breakout season in 2003. "Joey Ballgame" is back!:
One of last year's AFL favorites, Joey Thurston (Dodgers - 2B),
joined the Maryvale roster when an infield position opened up. The
left-handed hitter is coming off a great season in which he batted .334
in class AAA and made his major league debut with Los Angeles. (Read
the interview
with Thurston from this past summer) ... Another returnee from the
2001 AFL season, Chone Figgins (Angels - 2B), finally appeared
for the Scottsdale Scorpions after spending the month of October helping
the parent team earn a World Championship ... Cleveland's 2002
number one draft choice, Jeremy Guthrie (Indians - P), made his
professional debut this afternoon, just weeks after he finally came to
contract terms with the Tribe. The ex-Stanford right-hander pitched 1.1 innings for the
Phoenix Desert Dogs and gave up a run. We also caught
up with Tampa Bay outfielder Rocco
Baldelli, chatting about his whirlwind 2002 season, his family
and the challenges they've faced, and how he's giving back to the
community ... The homerun race:
The three sluggers battling for the AFL faced off in this afternoon's
game at Mesa's Hohokam Park. But fans saw a pitchers' duel instead, as Hee
Seop Choi (Cubs - 1B), Tagg Bozied (Padres - 1B) and Mark
Teixeira (Rangers - 3B) combined to go one for nine. Bozied and Choi are tied
for the league lead with eight homeruns each. The former hit his eighth
of the year in the second game of a Thursday afternoon doubleheader, while the
latter smacked his only two homeruns on the same day. Teixeira, who has seven homers
this year, didn't go deep this week.
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The race for the playoffs is
all but over, with Peoria and Scottsdale both holding insurmountable
leads in their respective divisions. But this league is all about
watching prospects in action, so check back throughout the week for more
player interviews and reports.
--- 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. |
