Tigers prospect Briceño becomes Fall League's first Triple Crown winner

GLENDALE, Ariz. -- The Arizona Fall League has been host to a who’s who of baseball royalty that cut their teeth in pro ball early in their careers -- future Rookies of the Year and Most Valuable Players Bryce Harper, Mike Trout and Ronald Acuña Jr., to name a few.

But none of them accomplished what Josue Briceño did this season, as the Tigers' No. 9 prospect became the first player in the league’s 32-year history to win the AFL Triple Crown.

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

Briceño, a 20-year-old catcher who was signed for $800,000 out of Venezuela in 2022, joined the Scottsdale Scorpions looking to make up for some lost time after he was limited to 40 games at Single-A Lakeland this season because of a sprained right knee.

Consider that mission accomplished and then some.

With a 1-for-4 showing with a double in Scottsdale’s 7-6 win against Glendale on Thursday, Briceño finished the regular season with a league-leading .433 batting average, 10 homers and 27 RBIs.

“It’s a testament to him to stay the same and be consistent in his work and what he was doing every single day,” said Scorpions manager Dennis Pelfrey. “And every time he had an at-bat, whether it worked out for him or not, he did the same thing every time, which is incredible for a younger player.”

The Cubs’ Nelson Velasquez made a run at the AFL Triple Crown in 2021, finishing first with nine homers, second with a .385 average and tied for third with 24 RBIs. Eight players have led the league in two of those three categories, but the emerging Tigers slugger is the first to lock down all three.

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Players who led AFL in 2 of 3 Triple Crown categories
1996: Bubba Trammel: .328 (4th), 7 HR (1st), 41 RBI (1st)
1999: George Lombard: .302 (29), 11 HR (1), 37 RBI (1)
2002: Tagg Bozied: .275 (28), 12 HR (1), 39 RBI (1)
2004: Chris Shelton: .404 (1), 6 HR (T4), 33 RBI (1)
2005: Brandon Wood: .307 (27), 14 HR (1), 32 (1)
2006: Chip Cannon: .352 (6), 11 HR (1), 29 RBI (1)
2011: Mike Olt: .349 (T8), 13 HR (1), 43 RBI (1)
2015: Gary Sanchez: .295 (15), 7 HR (1), 21 RBI (1)

“Any time you put your name next to some of those other names, it’s really incredible,” Pelfrey said. “But what I talk about a lot is not trying to be somebody else. Be the first Josue Briceño, and then players the next five or six years in the AFL will be trying to match what he did.”

The regular season is in the books, but Briceño’s fall legend is not done being written. Scottsdale’s win on Thursday clinched their spot in the playoffs, and the Scorpions have their sights set on their first AFL championship since 2015.

“Now that we got the job done and are in the postseason, the next steps are to do what we’ve been doing and get the win,” he said.