AZFall Archives

AZFall Home

Top Prospect Alert

E-mail

2002 season

November 22, 2002

The 2002 Arizona Fall League regular season concluded yesterday with a rather bizarre ending, as the Peoria - Mesa game was cancelled with 18 Peoria players suffering from food poisoning. Across the East Valley at Scottsdale Stadium, the Phoenix Desert Dogs ended their season with a big offensive explosion, including one of the best performances by a hitter this year. Two other AFL players broke long-standing league records earlier in the week.

New records:  

Ken Harvey (Royals - 1B) shattered three league hitting records, as the Kansas City slugger batted .479 with a .537 on-base average and .752 slugging percentage. The batting and on-base records had been set in 1993 by Scott Pose (.434 and .506) . Hank Blalock's .713 slugging percentage in 2001 was the previous high in that category ... Taggart Bozied (Padres - 1B) hit his 12th homerun of the season on Tuesday, breaking a record that had been held by five different players (Ryan Klesko - 1992, J.R. Phillips - 1993, Ron Wright - 1997, George Lombard - 1999, Hank Blalock - 2001). 

Ken Harvey talked about meeting his goals for the 2002 AFL season and the message he hopes to send to the Kansas City organization ... Tagg Bozied summarized his first minor league season, a year in which he hit a combined 36 homeruns and broke a long-standing homerun record ... Dave Sanders led the AFL in wins and ERA, but was still quite humble about his performance in Arizona ... There aren't very many pro baseball players from Quebec, but catchers Maxim St. Pierre and Pete LaForest both spent the last two months in the Arizona Fall League ...

Other league leaders:   In addition to the league records he established, Harvey also led the way with 11 doubles and 56 hits ...  Justin Sherrod (Red Sox - OF) collected a season high of five triples ... Nathan Haynes (Angels - OF) and Jermaine Clark (Rangers - 2B/OF) tied for the league lead in stolen bases with nine ...  A pair of White Sox southpaws, Dave Sanders and Josh Stewart, were the ERA leaders at 0.75 and 0.81, respectively ... Brian Bruney (Diamondbacks) did not give up an earned run in his 18.2 innings, but did not pitch enough innings to qualify for the league ERA title. But the 20-year-old right-hander led the AFL with seven saves ... Bobby Jenks (Angels - P) recorded the most strikeouts (54) for the second straight season ... Starting pitchers in the AFL seldom pitch enough innings to pick up the win, so a pair of relievers, Dave Sanders (White Sox - P) and Scott Wiggins (Blue Jays - P), led the league in victories with perfect 6-0 records.

Most surprising season: Tim Olson (Diamondbacks - SS) went from being a prospective utility player to a future legitimate starting shortstop candidate. Olson hit .374 (.429 OBA, .477 SLP), stole six bases and played solid defense.

Most frustrating season: Drew Henson (Yankees - 3B) struggled all year, hitting only .211 and striking out 40 times in 147 at bats, all the while looking like he wasn't enjoying the game. On a positive note, Henson had a decent final week, going deep twice to finish with six homeruns and bringing his average above the .200 mark. He also drew 19 walks and led the Maryvale team with 23 RBIs. The 2003 season will be a critical one in the development of the former quarterback.

Final game fireworks: The Grand Canyon Rafters probably wished their home game against the Phoenix Desert Dogs yesterday afternoon had been cancelled like the game in Mesa. The visitors unleashed a barrage of runs in the top of the fifth inning, scoring eight times en route to a 13-5 victory. Craig Brazell (Mets - 1B) followed his second-inning homerun to deep right field with two more big blasts in the fifth. The left-handed hitting slugger finished the season with seven homeruns, tied for fourth in the league. John-Ford Griffin (A's - OF) also homered in Phoenix's big fifth inning. Brian Luderer (Indians - C) hit a pair of doubles, while Freddie Bynum (A's - SS) doubled and Brandon Phillips (Indians - 2B) tripled for the winners.

Other nice season-ending performances: Jeremy Griffiths (Mets - P) finished a solid AFL season with an outstanding performance, pitching four shutout innings while yielding only one hit and no walks in a Tuesday afternoon game. The 6'6", 230 pound right-hander ended the year with a 1.91 ERA ... Bobby Basham (Reds - P) pitched three perfect innings on Wednesday to lower his ERA to 1.98 ... Cody Ross (Tigers - OF) nailed a pitch over the left-field wall at Mesa's Hohokam Park on Tuesday for a first inning grand slam to lead the Solar Sox to a 4-3 win over visiting Grand Canyon.

Caught in the act: The Phoenix players were all in a good mood prior to the final game, taking pictures of teammates, discussing travel plans and talking about the impending off-season. But none rivaled the jovial Brandon Phillips (Indians - 2B), who made a fan for life by picking up a young boy and carrying him along the sidelines. Never let it be said that the Arizona Fall league isn't a "fan friendly" experience.

--------