Features

First off, for those of you who are still trying to figure out what the Hawaii Winter Baseball League is all about, we highly recommend the HWB Preview that Baseball America’s Chris Kline wrote. As far as who to watch, here’s a list of the players who we are keying in on right now and how they have done through October, 14th.

Despite its reputation as a pure hitting league, the AFL also yields insight into the progress of young pitchers. This year, especially, seems pretty packed with highly regarded prospects.

Only 28 players have accomplished the feat of hitting 30 home runs and stealing 30 bases in a single season.

Just seven of them were infielders: first basemen Joe Carter and Jeff Bagwell, second baseman Alfonso Soriano, shortstops Barry Larkin and Alex Rodriguez, and third basemen Tommy Harper and Howard Johnson.

In his first full year of professional baseball, Alex Gordon took the Double-A Texas League by storm. Recently named the Texas League Player of the Year and Baseball America’s Minor League Baseball Player of the Year, Gordon has easily exceeded the high expectations placed on him entering the 2006 season after he was selected second overall by the Kansas City Royals in 2005.