Briceño, Rosario earn Week 6 AFL honors

The Arizona Fall League concluded with the Salt River Rafters claiming an unlikely title with their win over Surprise in Nov. 16’s AFL championship game, bringing a dramatic close to Week 6, and this year, of AFL play. The players honored for their performances in the season’s final week were guys who’d impressed all fall.

Shortly after being named the circuit’s MVP, Scottsdale slugger Josue Briceño (DET No. 9) added his second AFL Hitter of the Week honor for the way he capped his sensational fall. Glendale left-hander Jerming Rosario (Dodgers) missed so many bats he hardly needed his fielders in an outing that fueled his Pitcher of the Week honors.

Briceño finished the most productive fall of any player in Arizona on an absolute tear, hitting an otherworldly .579 (11-for-19) with eight runs, four doubles, two homers, seven RBIs and 21 total bases over his final five games of play. That finished off one of the most historic seasons ever produced in the AFL, as Briceño claimed the first Triple Crown in the circuit’s 32-year history by hitting .430 with 10 homers and 27 RBIs (1.374 OPS) over 25 games.

“It’s an incredible feeling,” Briceño told MLB Pipeline via interpreter Analis Castro this weekend. “Something I wasn’t expecting to win. But as the season progressed, I thought I’d have a chance and here we are.”

A 20-year-old backstop who played mostly first base this fall, Briceño has seemed like a breakout candidate for some time since signing for $800,000 out of Venezuela in 2022. But injuries limited him over his first two full professional seasons, including a knee issue that cost him all but 40 games this season. He homered only twice in those 40 contests for Single-A Lakeland, then erupted for 10 homers in almost half that total for the Scorpions in Arizona. He also paced all AFL hitters in hits, slugging and OPS, and also earned Player of the Week honors for Week 2.

Rosario earned Pitcher of the Week honors on the strength of a dominant three-inning outing for Glendale in its 2-1 loss to Mesa on Nov. 13. Recording strikeouts for seven of his nine outs, Rosario held the Solar Sox to one baserunner on one hit and didn’t walk a batter. He led AFL pitchers in strikeouts over the final week of play.

A 22-year-old righty who spent most of 2024 with Double-A Tulsa, Rosario was among the top-performing pitchers in the AFL this season, striking out 24 in 16 innings and pitching to a 4.50 ERA across six outings. He started two games, saved another, and tied for third in the AFL in total strikeouts.