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Pujols, Jeter, Halladay headline All-AFL team 10/09/2006 10:00 AM ETBy Lisa Winston / MLB.com
With nearly 100 Arizona Fall League alumni having been named to Major League All-Star squads in the league's 14-year history, choosing an All-AFL All-Star Team is not an easy task.
But we'll give it a shot.
Listed below is our All-Arizona Fall League Team. Where a candidate has played more than one position in the Majors, we have listed him at the primary spot during his career (with the exception of our utilitymen extraordinaire, who we have in the utility category):
1B Albert Pujols, Scottsdale 2000:
A member of the AFL Hall of Fame, Pujols also seems destined for the wall in Cooperstown after just six Major League seasons. He boasts a .332 career average and has hit over .300 each season. A unanimous pick for National League Rookie of the Year in 2001, when he hit .329 with 37 homers and 130 RBIs, Pujols' AFL season in Scottsdale capped what was, remarkably, his pro debut. Drafted in the 13th round in 1999, he spent most of 2000 at Class A Peoria before finishing up at Triple-A Memphis and batting .367 in the postseason there to earn Pacific Coast League playoff MVP honors. Pujols has hit at least 34 homers and driven in at least 117 runs every year during his big-league career and his .331 average, 49 homers and 137 RBIs have him the odds-on favorite for this season's National League MVP award.
Honorable Mention:
Jason Giambi, 1994
Todd Helton, 1996
Ryan Howard, 2004
Paul Konerko, 1996
Derrek Lee, 1995-96
Mark Teixeira, 2002
2B Alfonso Soriano, Grand Canyon 1998:
One of three AFL alumni to be named to the AFL Hall of Fame Class of 2006, Soriano made his U.S. debut in the Arizona Fall League in 1998 after signing with the Yankees following two pro seasons in Japan. A two-time Player of the Week that fall, he was in the Majors with the Yankees within the year and since then has been one of the top offensive threats in the Majors. This year, with the Washington Nationals, he moved from the infield to the outfield. The move did not detract from his offense as he joined the elusive 40-40 club, hitting .277 with 46 homers, 95 RBIs and 41 stolen bases. Soriano, who has driven in at least 90 runs each of the last five seasons, reached the 200-homer and 200-steal plateaus in just 929 big-league games, the quickest to that double-landmark in baseball history. He is a five-time All-Star.
Honorable Mention:
Marcus Giles, 2000
Orlando Hudson, 2001
Adam Kennedy, 1998-99
Brian Roberts, 2000-01
Dan Uggla, 2005
Chase Utley, 2002
Michael Young, 2000
SS Derek Jeter, Chandler 1994:
The Yankees captain boasts a .317 career average over 11 full seasons and comes off a year in which he finished second in the American League batting race to Twins catcher Joe Mauer, hitting .343 with 14 homers and 97 RBIs. A 1992 first-round pick out of high school, he cruised through three levels in 1994 and capped that season with his campaign in Chandler. He was the American League Rookie of the Year two seasons later, hitting .314 with 10 home runs and 78 RBIs. A member of the AFL Hall of Fame, Jeter collected his 2,000th Major League hit this past May. He also was both All-Star Game MVP and World Series MVP in 2000.
Honorable Mention:
Orlando Cabrera, 1997
Bobby Crosby, 2002
Nomar Garciaparra, 1994
Jimmy Rollins, 2000
3B, David Wright, Peoria 2003:
The Mets' supplemental first-round pick in 2001, Wright made his Major League debut in 2004, coming off his fine AFL campaign. A bonafide superstar in New York after just two full seasons, he batted .306 with 27 home runs and 102 RBIs in 2005, his first full summer, and helped lead the Mets to the 2006 postseason by hitting .311 with 26 homers, 116 RBIs and 20 steals.
Honorable Mention:
Hank Blalock, 2001
Aaron Boone, 1995-97
Eric Chavez, 1998
Joe Crede, 2000
UTIL Chone Figgins, Peoria 2001, Scottsdale 2002:
Originally a fourth-round pick by Colorado in 1997, the speedy Figgins was dealt during the 2001 season to the Angels, who sent him to fall ball that season and the next one. A .285 career hitter with 50-plus steals each of his last two seasons, he enjoyed a breakout year in 2005 when he stole 62 bases and showed his flexibility by playing second base, shortstop, third base and all three outfield positions. He hit for the cycle in September.
Honorable Mention:
Rich Aurilia, 1993-95
Jorge Cantu, 2002
Freddy Sanchez, 2001, 2004
C Mike Piazza, Scottsdale 1992:
A sure bet for the Baseball Hall of Fame, Piazza already is in the AFL Hall of Fame as a member of the league's first-ever Class of '92. In 15 years, he boasts a .309 average and is a 12-time All-Star. Now with the San Diego Padres, he holds the Major League career record for home runs by a catcher and has topped the 30-homer plateau 10 times while driving in at least 100 runs six times. The 1993 N.L. Rookie of the Year was a 62nd-round draft pick by the Dodgers in 1988.
Honorable Mention:
Michael Barrett, 1998
Charles Johnson, 1993-94
Jason Kendall, 1994-95
Jason LaRue, 1998
Paul Lo Duca, 1996-98
Jason Varitek, 1995-96
OF Garret Anderson, Scottsdale 1993, Tempe 1994:
A 1990 fourth-rounder, Anderson is a member of the AFL Hall of Fame. He has a .297 career average in 12 full seasons, all with the Angels, hitting .300 or better six times and driving in at least 100 runs four times. He has also reached the 20-homer mark five times in that span.
OF Johnny Damon, Scottsdale 1995:
A .289 career hitter with Kansas City, Oakland, Boston and the Yankees, Damon has batted over .300 four times and has stolen at least 20 bases eight times. He was a first-round pick in 1992.
OF Shawn Green, Scottsdale 1993:
The Blue Jays' first-round pick in 1991 is one of only a handful of Major Leaguers to hit 300 homers, scored 1,000 runs, driven in 1,000 runs, totaled 400 doubles and 150 stolen bases. The AFL Hall of Famer has hit .282 over 12 full seasons with the Jays, Dodgers, Diamondbacks and Mets. He's topped the 20-homer plateau seven times and driven in at least 100 runs four times. He joined the 30-30 club in 1998 and is also on the elite list of players with four homers in a game.
Honorable Mention:
Pat Burrell, 1999
Carl Crawford, 2001
Jermaine Dye, 1995
Cliff Floyd, 1993
Brian Giles, 1994
Torii Hunter, 1998
Geoff Jenkins, 1996-97
Carlos Lee, 1998
Trot Nixon, 1995
Vernon Wells, 1999
And ... since we're talking All-Stars, Michael Jordan, 1994
STARTING PITCHER Roy Halladay, Grand Canyon 1998:
It might seem surprising that the depth of starting pitchers is significantly less than that of the hitters, but generally clubs were more reluctant to send healthy starters to Arizona because they'd already reached their innings limit. There were a few exceptions, though, and Halladay certainly was a notable one. The lone pitcher named to the AFL Hall of Fame Class of 2006 and just the second pitcher selected for the Hall after closer Troy Percival, Halladay won the A.L. Cy Young Award in 2003, when he went 22-7 with a 3.25 ERA. He made 36 starts, pitched nine complete games and walked just 32 batters in 266 innings. This past season, he was 16-5 with a 3.19 ERA. In his big-league career, he's gone 95-48 with a 3.62 ERA, despite a rough 2000 campaign when he posted a 10.64 ERA and went back to the Minors to regroup. The first AFL pitcher to win a Cy Young Award, he missed the second half of the 2005 season when his leg was broken on a comebacker.
Honorable Mention:
Bronson Arroyo, 1998
Derek Lowe, 1993, 1995
Mark Mulder, 1998
John Patterson, 1999
Brad Penny, 1999
Brandon Webb, 2002
CLOSER Troy Percival, Scottsdale 1992:
The first pitcher enshrined in the Arizona Fall League Hall of Fame, Percival also is the lone member of this All-Star Team to have retired from baseball, hanging up his spikes following the 2005 season due to shoulder trouble. In 11 seasons in the Majors (10 with the Angels and one with Detroit), he posted a 3.10 ERA and 324 saves. He recorded at least 30 saves eight times and topped 40 twice.
Honorable Mention:
Danys Baez, 2000
Brad Lidge, 2000
Francisco Rodriguez, 2001
Huston Street, 2004
Derrick Turnbow, 2000, 2002 This story was not subject to the approval of the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues or its clubs.
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