the month. His first homer was hit off Mark Mulder of the Oakland Athletics on April 16. In June, he led Angels hitters with a .386 average (17-for-44) and was batting .328 (42-for-128) at the All-Star break, second to Seattle's Ichiro Suzuki among AL rookies (based on 125 at bats). Wooten hit safely in 47 contests, including 17 multi-hit games. His season ended when doctors discovered torn cartilage in his left wrist in early September and he underwent arthroscopic surgery. At the time, he was hitting .312 (69-for-221) with eight home runs and 32 runs batted in in 79 games and ranked second among American League first-year players with a .466 slugging percentage. Nevertheless, he was selected for the Baseball Digest and Topps Major League Baseball rookie All-Star teams. At the time of the injury, his .312 average was second best among American League rookies and was tops on the Angels' club. He wound up starting the most games (27) at designated hitter, but also played 25 games at catcher and 21 at first base. 2002 After starting the 2002 season in the minor leagues on a rehab assignment, Wooten came off the disabled list in July 2002. He played in 49 of the team's last 76 games, batting .338 (26-for-77) from August through September, including three doubles in a game to tie a team record. Overall, he finished with a .292 average in 49 games, mostly as a DH or first baseman. In the 2002 postseason, Wooten was used as the club's DH against left-handed pitching, platooning with Brad Fullmer. In the 2002 American League Division Series against the New York Yankees, Wooten started two of the four games at DH and pinch-hit in a third. He had six hits in nine at-bats, including a game-tying home run off David Wells in the fifth inning of Game 4, which the Angels went on to win to finish off the series. In the ALCS against the Minnesota Twins, Wooten started one game and played in two others, going 2-for-8 with one RBI. In the World Series against the San Francisco Giants, who did not start any left-handers, he appeared in three games, going 1-for-2. Overall, he hit .474 (9-for-19) with one home run, three RBI and five runs scored in nine postseason games, third best among all hitters in the playoffs. 2003 In 2003, Wooten posted career highs in games