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"\"&lt;p&gt;SURPRISE, Ariz.&amp;#8211;A third baseman since signing as a 2003 first-round             pick, Eric Duncan has played five games at first base and taken extra             work there almost every day during his stay in the Arizona Fall League.&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;And while Duncan had never played first base in his career, the&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nreason for the parent New York Yankees&amp;#8217; experimentation comes into&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nfocus in the time it takes to say &amp;#8220;Alex Rodriguez.&amp;#8221;&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;&amp;#8220;They are kind of blocked at third base, to put it lightly,&amp;#8221; Duncan said with a chuckle.&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;&amp;#8220;But like I&amp;#8217;ve always said, my next at-bat is tough enough, and my&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nnext ground ball is tough enough, that I can&amp;#8217;t be thinking about the&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nfuture. I am just thinking about my next game.&amp;#8221;&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;Duncan, 20, has embraced the opportunity to expand his resume, as&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nhis early numbers indicate &amp;#8211;he was hitting .378-7-22 in 74 at-bats for&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nGrand Canyon, leading the league in slugging percentage (.784) while&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nranking second to Phoenix&amp;#8217;s Brandon Wood (Angels) in home runs and&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nRBIs. His nine doubles also rank second. &lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;Duncan still spends the majority of time at third base but works&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nwith the coaching staff on footwork, positioning and technique in&lt;br \\/&gt;\\npregame sessions at first, a position that he believes does not get&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nenough respect.&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;&amp;#8220;Everybody downplays it, saying it&amp;#8217;s the easiest position on the&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nfield, but there is a lot to it,&amp;#8221; said Duncan, the 27th player in the&lt;br \\/&gt;\\n2003 draft out of Seton Hall Prep in West Orange, N.J.&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;&amp;#8220;There is a lot going on with your feet, and where to play depending&lt;br \\/&gt;\\non who is at bat. It is a lot different than I thought it would be. I&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nwork at it every day, just trying to figure out as much as possible.&amp;#8221;&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;He has it figured out at the plate after batting .235\\/.326\\/.408 at&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nTrenton, his first season at Double-A after spending only a half-season&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nat high Class A Tampa in 2004.&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;&amp;#8220;There were just some things I needed to start thinking about at the&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nplate,&amp;#8221; said Duncan of the checklist he has during his at-bats.&lt;br \\/&gt;\\n&amp;#8220;Tinkering with a few things, nothing drastic. I figured out something&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nin my own head that makes sense to me. It gives my a rhythm and lets me&lt;br \\/&gt;\\ndo what I need to do to be successful.&amp;#8221;&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;Duncan entered 2005 with .273\\/.359\\/.472 career numbers in two&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nseasons, and while his 19 home runs this season were a career high, his&lt;br \\/&gt;\\naverage dipped to a career low. That led some to wonder if the Yankees&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nhad moved him up the ladder too quickly. Duncan had no complaints about&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nthe rapid advance.&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;&amp;#8220;I&amp;#8217;m most definitely comfortable with everything,&amp;#8221; he said. &amp;#8220;There&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nwere things that I wasn&amp;#8217;t happy with last year, but there were a lot of&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nthings I was happy with. Overall I could have had a better year, but I&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nthink that is an excuse if someone says they are pushing me too quick.&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;&amp;#8220;If the Yankees want to push me, that&amp;#8217;s because I think I can handle&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nit. It was a huge boost to my confidence that they sent me there. There&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nwere definitely positives. I got to play with great competition,&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nagainst guys who had played Triple-A and the big leagues. I learned a&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nlot playing with those guys.&amp;#8221;&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;FALL GUYS&lt;\\/b&gt;&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;&amp;bull; Peoria Javelinas&amp;#8217; outfielder &lt;b&gt;Val Majewski&lt;\\/b&gt; (Orioles) hit his&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nfirst home run of the 2005 season Thursday, helping the Javelinas to an&lt;br \\/&gt;\\n8-3 victory over Mesa. Majewski, who also had two singles and two RBIs,&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nmissed the entire summer season after surgery to repair a torn left&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nlabrum in March. He hit .307-15-80 at Double-A Bowie in 2004, when he&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nalso had a brief big league callup.&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;&amp;bull; Surprise third baseman &lt;b&gt;Alex Gordon&lt;\\/b&gt; (Royals) hit his first professional home run Thursday after joining the AFL on Oct. 15. &lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;&amp;bull; Peoria Javelinas first baseman &lt;b&gt;Michael Johnson&lt;\\/b&gt; (Padres) hit&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nthree home runs in a seven-inning, 8-4 victory over Surprise in the&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nfirst game of a makeup doubleheader Tuesday. He had 21 homers in 73&lt;br \\/&gt;\\ngames at Lake Elsimore this season. &lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;&amp;bull; Phoenix righthander &lt;b&gt;Wade Townsend&lt;\\/b&gt; (Devil Rays), the eighth&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nplayer taken in the 20004 and 2005 drafts, was shut down last week&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nbecause of arm tenderness. Townsend, who didn&amp;#8217;t sign with the Orioles&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nin &amp;#8217;04 and did not pitch as a senior at Rice, made 12 appearances, 10&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nstarts, for short-season Hudson Valley, going 0-4, 5.39 in 39 1-3&lt;br \\/&gt;\\ninnings before being sent to the AFL in an attempt to get more innings.&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n\""^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.baseballamerica.com/minors/2005-arizona-fall-league-notebook-eric-duncan-763/>