Prince Semien Fielder (born May 9, 1984) is an American former professional baseball first baseman and designated hitter, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Milwaukee Brewers, Detroit Tigers, and Texas Rangers. He was selected in the first round of the 2002 Major League Baseball draft by the Brewers out of Eau Gallie High School in Melbourne, Florida, and spent the first seven years of his MLB career with the Brewers before signing with the Tigers, in January 2012. In November 2013, Fielder was traded to the Rangers, where he played the remainder of his career.
Fielder is a six-time All-Star. He holds the Brewers' team record for home runs (HR) and runs batted in (RBI) in a season and is the youngest player in National League (NL) history to hit 50 home runs in a season. He became the first Brewer to win the Home Run Derby, defeating Nelson Cruz in the final round of the 2009 derby. Fielder also won the 2012 derby, joining Ken Griffey Jr. (and later Yoenis Céspedes and Pete Alonso) as the only players to win more than one derby and becoming the first player to win the Derby as both an American League (AL) and NL All-Star.
On August 10, 2016, Fielder announced that he would be unable to continue his playing career after undergoing a second neck surgery in three years. He was released by the Rangers on October 4, 2017. He ended his career with 319 home runs, the same number as his father, Cecil Fielder. Fielder also had 1,028 RBIs during his time in the majors, improving on his father’s 1,008 career RBIs. Prince and Cecil Fielder are also the only father-son duo to each hit 50 MLB home runs in a season, and were the only father-son duo to hit 40 MLB home runs in a season until 2021, when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. joined his own father in achieving the feat.
Early life Fielder was initially right-handed, but at a very young age was converted to being a left-handed hitter by his father, baseball player Cecil Fielder. Fielder was a fixture around his father's teams' clubhouses growing up. He appeared with his father on MTV Rock N' Jock Softball. When his father played for Detroit, Prince would sometimes come along for batting practice. Fielder hit a home run off Tigers third base coach Terry Francona into the upper deck of Tiger Stadium as a 12-year-old in 1996.
Fielder attended Saint Edward's School in Vero Beach, Florida, for two years, where he played junior varsity baseball. Fielder spent his first three years of high school playing at Florida Air Academy in Melbourne, Florida. He then transferred to Eau Gallie High School, located in the Eau Gallie neighborhood of Melbourne, to play baseball there his senior year (2002). He hit .524 with 13 doubles, 10 home runs, 41 runs batted in (RBIs), and 47 runs in his senior year. He was named by Florida Today as the All-Space Coast Player of the Year in 2002. Fielder committed to play college baseball for Arizona State.
Professional career
Draft and minor leagues The Milwaukee Brewers drafted Fielder in the first round, with the seventh overall selection, of the 2002 Major League Baseball draft. He signed with the Brewers and began his professional career in minor league baseball with the Ogden Raptors of the Rookie-level Pioneer League. In his first professional game, he hit a grand slam in the bottom of the 9th inning to tie it up. Ogden would go on to win in the 10th inning. He was promoted to the Beloit Snappers of the Single–A Midwest League that season. Fielder spent the 2003 season with Beloit and was promoted to the Huntsville Stars of the Double–A Southern League for the 2004 season.
Fielder began the 2005 season with the Nashville Sounds of the Triple–A Pacific Coast League.
Milwaukee Brewers (2005–2011)
2005 Fielder earned his first call-up to Major League Baseball on June 13, 2005. He served as the designated hitter for the Brewers during interleague play. On June 15, 2005, he collected his first major league hit, a double, off Hideo Nomo, and drove in his first big league run with his second hit of the night at Tampa Bay. Prince also hit his first home run on June 25, 2005.
However, with Lyle Overbay serving as the Brewers' regular first baseman, Fielder was sent back down to the Sounds shortly after the end of interleague play. Fielder was again called up to the Majors on August 17, 2005, and went on to finish the season with the Brewers, where he was used as a pinch-hitter. He was the sixth-youngest player in the league.
2006 After the Brewers traded Overbay to the Toronto Blue Jays, Fielder became the Brewers' starting first baseman in 2006. He was an early favorite for National League Rookie of the Year.
Fielder did not get off to a great start in the 2006 regular season, going 0–9 with seven strikeouts. In his 12th at-bat, Fielder delivered a game-winning hit that drove home Geoff Jenkins for the winning run in the bottom of the 8th inning against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Fielder was named the National League's Rookie of the Month for April. With his 18th home run of the year, Fielder broke the Brewers' rookie home run record previously held by Danny Walton and Greg Vaughn.
Fielder led all major league rookies with 28 homers in the 2006 season. On defense, he had the lowest zone rating among NL first basemen, .804.
2007 Fielder had a strong first half in 2007, earning a start at first base in the 2007 All-Star game over the previous two MVP winners, Ryan Howard (2006) and Albert Pujols (2005).
On August 13, 2007, Fielder was featured on a magazine cover for the first time when he was featured on the August 13, 2007, issue of ESPN The Magazine.
On September 15, 2007, Fielder broke the Brewers franchise record for home runs in a season, hitting his 46th in a game against the Cincinnati Reds. The record was previously jointly held by Richie Sexson (twice) and Gorman Thomas.
On September 25, Fielder became the youngest player ever to reach 50 home runs in a season, joining his estranged father in the exclusive club. Fielder stated that he hoped to surpass his father's total of 51 home runs in a season (1990) as a way of exorcising the demons that came with being the son of a prominent major-leaguer. "A lot of people said that's the only reason I got drafted... I don't mind people comparing me to him but I'm a completely different player. One day I want people to mention my name and not have to mention his," Fielder said. Earlier in the season, Cecil Fielder had told a magazine that it was his famous name that led to his son being such a highly-touted prospect. The younger Fielder also saw his contention in the 2007 NL MVP race as a way of proving his father wrong, but got little else from the rift but motivation saying, "You've got to look at who's saying it. Let's be honest. He's not really the brightest guy."
Fielder ranked first in the National League in home runs (50) in his MVP-caliber 2007 season (and was, until the 2017 MLB season, the last player in the National League to hit 50 or more home runs in a single season, when Giancarlo Stanton hit 59 home runs), was second in slugging percentage to teammate Ryan Braun (.618), second in at-bats per home run (11.5) and OPS (1.013), third in RBIs (119) and extra-base hits (87), fourth in total bases (354) and hit by pitch (14), fifth in intentional walks (21) and sacrifice flies (8), seventh in runs (109) and times on base (269), and ninth in walks (90).
In 2007, he led all major league first basemen in errors, with 14, and was last among eligible major league first basemen in range factor (8.49).
Fielder earned the Milwaukee Brewers Team MVP award, the Player's Choice NL Outstanding Player award, 2007 Silver Slugger award, and was voted the National League's Hank Aaron Award winner.Fielder adds Aaron Award to '07 honors. The Official Site of The Milwaukee Brewers. October 28, 2007
2008
Unable to come up with an agreement for a long-term contract with the Brewers, Fielder and his agent, Scott Boras, signed a one-year, $670,000 deal with the Brewers. Fielder was quoted saying, "I'm not happy about it at all", showing his disappointment in not being able to reach an agreement with the club.
On June 19, while playing against the Toronto Blue Jays, Fielder hit the second inside-the-park home run of his career.
On August 4, Fielder and teammate Manny Parra got into a scuffle in the dugout during a game against the Cincinnati Reds in which Parra was the starting pitcher. They were having a brief conversation, which led to Parra throwing his jacket down and Fielder shoving him. Fielder had to be restrained by teammates Ray Durham, Dave Bush, J. J. Hardy, Ryan Braun, and pitching coach Mike Maddux. ESPN reported that night that the dispute was over Parra heading back to the clubhouse after being pulled from the game instead of staying in the dugout to watch the Brewers bat in the next inning. Baseball Tonight also reported that the exchange was started when Parra told Fielder to "get off his fat ass and play defense." Manager Ned Yost said reporters asking questions about the incident was as rude as "going over to the neighbors' house after they've been fighting and asking about it."
On September 23, Fielder hit his second walk-off home run against the Pittsburgh Pirates, helping the Brewers keep pace with the New York Mets in the NL Wild Card race.
Fielder was named the National League Player of the Week for the week of September 15–21 after he batted .462, with 27 total bases, six doubles, 11 RBIs, .533 on-base percentage, and a 1.038 slugging percentage.
Fielder ended the 2008 regular season with a .276 batting average, 34 home runs, 102 RBIs, 86 runs and 84 walks. The Brewers finished 90–72, earning the NL Wild Card on the final day of the regular season, their first postseason berth as a National League club and their first since losing to the St. Louis Cardinals in the 1982 World Series. They faced the Philadelphia Phillies and were eliminated in four. Fielder hit the Brewers' only home run of the series, in Game 4.
2009 After the 2008 season, Fielder was seeking an $8 million salary in 2009, while the Brewers filed for $6 million. On January 23, the Brewers and Fielder avoided arbitration and finalized a two-year $18 million contract.
On June 15, 2009, Fielder hit his first career grand slam at Progressive Field against Rafael Perez of the Cleveland Indians .
Fielder was one of four NL first basemen who made the 2009 Major League Baseball All-Star Game, joining starter Albert Pujols and fellow reservists Adrián González and Ryan Howard. Fielder won the 2009 Major League Baseball Home Run Derby in St Louis. Fielder began the Derby with a Rickie Weeks bat, but quickly switched to one of Ryan Braun's because it was longer and gave him more plate coverage.Brewers soak up experience Milwaukee Journal Sentinel He made the finals with 17 home runs after the first two rounds, eliminating local favorites Albert Pujols and Ryan Howard. He then beat former Brewers teammate Nelson Cruz with six homers in the final round. His 23 long balls tied for the sixth-most in the Derby's history. He also hit the longest home run of the Derby at .
On August 4, Fielder was involved in an incident with Los Angeles Dodgers relief pitcher Guillermo Mota. With two outs in the ninth inning, Mota hit Fielder with a pitch on the leg, apparently in retaliation for Mota's teammate Manny Ramirez being hit in the hand by Brewers pitcher Chris Smith. Mota was ejected. After the 17–4 Dodgers victory, Fielder went to the Dodgers clubhouse in an effort to confront Mota. The Dodgers security guards stopped Fielder from entering, though the incident was captured by a television crew. Both Mota and Fielder were fined by Major League Baseball for their roles in the incident.