Prince Fielder

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. 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.

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 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.

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. [1] 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.

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.