Rangers Prospect McGuiness Earns POW Honors In Arizona Fall League

Texas Rangers prospect Chris McGuiness has been named the co-Player of the Week for the first week of play in the Arizona Fall League, a league reserved for high-end prospects.

A first baseman who came to Texas as a part of the deal that sent catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia to the Boston Red Sox, McGuiness hit .268 with 23 home runs and 77 RBIs this season for Double-A Frisco.

In his first week as a member of the AFL’s Surprise Saguaros, McGuiness went 7-18 for a .389 average, two home runs, two doubles and six RBIs. Last Wednesday, he was just a triple short of the cycle, which is all the more impressive because, according to McGuiness, he wasn’t seeing the ball all that well at the time.

"[The pitches] just seemed to hit my barrel," McGuinesstold the Rangers’ official website. "Yesterday was a real rough game; my timing is all messed up. The ball looks like a golf ball coming in there. You're just looking to swing early, and that's what happened today. I was able to get some good swings on it.

"That's just baseball. You come out one day and put up a goose egg, then the next day you come out and the hits start falling for you."

The other winner of the AFL Player of the Week was Astros prospect, first baseman Jonathan Singleton.