Prince Fielder

Prince Semien Fielder

• Bats Left, Throws Right
• Height 5' 11", Weight 275 lb.
• High School Eau Gallie High School
• Debut June 13, 2005

• Born May 18, 1984 in Ontario, CA USA

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[edit] Biographical Information

Fielder speaks with President Obama before the 2009 All-Star Game

Prince Fielder, the son of Cecil Fielder, came to the majors at a young age with a lot of hype. He proved his potential in 2007 by leading the National League with 50 home runs.

Like his father, Prince Fielder is a big man. He was listed at 260 lbs. at the age of 22 and was said to be 280 pounds in his first year out of high school.

Fielder was born in Ontario, CA (40 miles east of Los Angeles) in 1984, the year before his father hit the big leagues for the first time. According to Alan Trammell and Ernie Harwell, Fielder hit a ball into the upper deck of Tiger Stadium at age 12. Fielder went to high school in Florida, and was named a First Team High School All-American at first base after hitting .524 and slugging 1.134 as a senior. He produced 77 runs in 82 AB that year. He was drafted in the first round by the Milwaukee Brewers in 2002, the 7th overall pick and second position player (following B.J. Upton). He was signed by scout Tom McNamara and scouting director Jack Zduriencik for $2.4 million.

Fielder immediately made a big impression at the Rookie Level at Ogden of the Pioneer League, where he posted .390/.531/.678 and was named Rookie League All-Star DH by Baseball America. Moving up to the Beloit Snappers that same year, in the Single A Midwest League, he was at first struggling with a .241/.320/.384 line in 31 games. Baseball America listed him as the 9th-best first base prospect in baseball and the #4 prospect in the Pioneer League.

But the next year, 2003, he showed that he could dominate the Midwest League, as he put up numbers of .313/.409/.526 with 27 home runs, 15 times hit-by-pitch, 112 RBI and 16 intentional walks. He was named the Midwest Player of the Year, and the Milwaukee Brewers Minor League Player of the Year. His Triple Crown try fell short but he was still tied for third in the MWL in average, led in RBI and intentional walks, was second to Jayson Drobiak in homers and second to Drobiak in slugging and Jon-Mark Sprowl in OBP. He was named to the league All-Star team, was named the top prospect in the league (by both the league and Baseball America) and was rated the #4 prospect among minor league first basemen behind Casey Kotchman, Jason Stokes and James Loney.

2004 brought him to Huntsville in the Southern League, where he had numbers of .272/.366/.473 with 23 home runs, and was again named Milwaukee Brewers Minor League Player of the Year. Despite turning 20 years old only, he was tied for third in a AA league in homers, was judged by BA to have the best strike-zone discipline in the circuit and was the cleanup hitter for the USA in the Futures Game.

In 2005, he was up at Nashville in the AAA PCL, where he posted a line of .291/.388/.569 with 28 home runs before he came to the majors. Despite getting called up to Milwaukee, he still was just 3 homers behind PCL leader Luke Scott. He was ranked as the #3 prospect in the PCL.

In 39 games with the Brewers in 2005, he hit .288/.306/.458 at the age of 21. Lyle Overbay, who had played 158 games with the Brewers in 2005, mostly at first base, hitting 19 home runs with 76 RBI, was traded to the Toronto Blue Jays to make room for Fielder after the season.

Around the end of July 2006, Fielder had 18 home runs and was hitting .288/.345/.501. He played in virtually every Brewers game that year. He dropped off a bit with his final 2006 numbers of .271/.347/.483. In 2007, Fielder set the Brewers franchise home run record with his 46th of the year. Gorman Thomas's 45 had been the record for 28 years, with Richie Sexson having tied Thomas twice. He also became the youngest player in MLB history to hit 50 homers in a season, finishing with that number. Fielder wanted to surpass his father's career high but failed to do so that year. He and his dad were estranged at this point in time.

Fielder's production dropped a bit in 2008 as he hit .276 with 34 homers and 102 RBI. Still, he was one of the keys to the Brewers making it to the postseason for the first time since the 1982 World Series, as the National League Wild Card. He was only 1 for 14 in the NLDS as the Brewers lost in 4 games to the Philadelphia Phillies, his only hit being a homer. In 2009, he had 46 homers and a league-leading 141 RBI while topping a 1.000 OPS for the second-time - the first having come two years earlier. He then fell back in 2010, with his .261 batting average being the lowest of his career, and his 32 homers and 83 RBI falling well short of his career standards. On the positive side, though, he did lead the league in walks with 114, giving him an on-base percentage above .400 for the second straight year.

Fielder had perhaps his best all-around season for the Brewers in 2011, being the offensive leader of a team that began to run away with the NL Central title after the All-Star break. Fielder was named to the All-Star team for the third time that year, and earned the game's MVP Award thanks to a home run off C.J. Wilson. He topped 100 RBI before the end of August. He finished the season with a batting line of .299/.415/.566, with 36 doubles, 38 homers, 95 runs and 120 RBI. He was third behind his teammate Ryan Braun and Matt Kemp in voting for the 2011 National League Most Valuable Player Award. In the postseason, he went 5 for 18 with a pair of doubles and a homer in Milwaukee's win over the Arizona Diamondbacks in the NLDS, then hit a pair of homers in their loss to the St. Louis Cardinals in the 2011 NLCS.

Fielder became a free agent after the 2011 season. As he was represented by Scott Boras, it was clear that it would take a truckload of money to sign him, especially after the older Albert Pujols signed a huge deal with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. With the end of January approaching, Fielder was still unsigned, with fewer and fewer apparently able to afford his services. However, he surprised almost everyone on January 24th when it was announced he had signed a 9-year deal with the Detroit Tigers, the team most associated with his father, for $214 million. The Tigers, who already had a premium first baseman signed for a number of years in Miguel Cabrera, had not been interested until they received news that DH Victor Martinez was lost for the season because of an injury suffered while getting ready for 2012.

When Fielder made the 2012 All-Star Game with Detroit, he and his father became the 4th father-son duo to represent the same club in the All-Star Game and the first in the AL. In the NL, Felipe Alou and Moises Alou had both played for the Giants, Bobby Bonds and Barry Bonds had both represented San Francisco as well and Ken Griffey Sr. and Ken Griffey Jr. had both been with Cincinnati. When he reached 30 homers that year, Prince and his father became the second father-son duo to both go deep 30 times for the same franchise; only the Bondses with the Giants had done so.

Russell Branyan and David Bell have played with both Cecil and Prince Fielder.

"As soon as Prince Fielder was ready, I knew they'd probably move me." - Lyle Overbay talking about his tenure with the Milwaukee Brewers

[edit] Notable Achievements

• 2006 Topps All-Star Rookie Team
• 4-time All-Star (2007, 2009, 2011 & 2012)
• 2011 All-Star Game MVP
• 3-time Silver Slugger Award Winner (2007/NL, 2011/NL & 2012/AL)
• NL Home Runs Leader (2007)
• NL RBI Leader (2009)
• NL Bases on Balls Leader (2010)
• 20-Home Run Seasons: 7 (2006-2012)
• 30-Home Run Seasons: 6 (2007-2012)
• 40-Home Run Seasons: 2 (2007 & 2009)
• 50-Home Run Seasons: 1 (2007)
• 100 RBI Seasons: 5 (2007-2009, 2011 & 2012)
• 100 Runs Scored Seasons: 2 (2007 & 2009)

[edit] Related Sites

• Prince Fielder on mlb.com