O'Neill, Wood among AFL offensive leaders

By: Adam Morissette

Canadian Baseball Network

OTTAWA-Quality over quantity as they say, and it couldn’t be more true as far as Canadians went in the Arizona Fall League this year.

The AFL brings together some of the top prospects in all of baseball as Major League Baseball clubs send players to compete in the six-team circuit and hone their skills.

Three Canadians were among those scattered on AFL rosters in 2016 as second-year Fall League member Tyler O’Neill (Seattle Mariners) was joined by third baseman Eric Wood (Pittsburgh Pirates) and hard throwing reliever Rowan Wick (St. Louis Cardinals).

For O’Neill and Wood, the Fall League was an exclamation point on excellent seasons for both players as they were among leaders in many offensive categories.

Wood slugged a career-high 16 home runs with Double-A Altoona in 2016 and carried those power numbers into the AFL where he tied for third among home run leaders with three. The Oshawa native led the league with 20 RBI and his .333 batting average was good for sixth among eligible batters.

Wood will be eligible for the Rule 5 draft that will take place at the conclusion of the annual Winter Meetings in Washington next month. He’s currently in the Dominican Republic where’s he’s continuing his season as a member of the Gigantes del Cibao in the Dominican Winter League.

For Junior National Team alum Tyler O’Neill, his AFL stint capped an incredible season where he was named both Southern League regular season and playoff Most Valuable Player.

The pride of Maple Ridge, BC matched Wood’s home run output with three, while hitting .292 with 14 RBI.

A fixture among Top Prospect lists in all of baseball, the outfielder participated in the Fall Stars Game as was ranked as the 9th best prospect in the AFL by MLB Pipeline.

Hitter turned pitcher Rowan Wick appeared in nine games for the Glendale Desert Dogs of the AFL where he racked up eight strikeouts over ten innings pitched. The North Vancouver product pitched at two different levels in 2016 and impressed Cardinals brass as he was added to the club’s 40-man roster just last week.

Wick will be in big league camp when the Cardinals open spring training in February.