Rays first baseman Carlos Pena on Tuesday was named AL Comeback Player of the Year by Major League BAseball. The award is given to the player who "re-emerges" on the field. Pena who was released in spring 2006 by Detroit and spent most of the season at Triple-A with New York and Boston, hit a team-record 46 homers for the Rays and knocked in 121 runs.

Pena came to spring training with the Rays on a minor-league contract and had been reassigned but was brought back when Greg Norton sustained a knee injury. Pena, showing much better pitch selection than he had earlier in his career, took it from there. His career high for homers was 27 and the Rays record was 34. The RBI record was 117.