I've always liked Prince Fielder for the amusing, "Hey look at the fat guy whack the ball way out of the park!" aspect. This is probably a leftover from my childhood, because when I was a little kid I liked Cecil Fielder for the exact same reasons. Still, Prince is a lot more than a novelty act. He's got two home runs tonight to give him 50 on the year, and that makes him the youngest ever to hit 50 homers. It also makes him and Cecil the only father/son combo to hit 50, and that counts whether they're speaking or not. Let's take a moment to examine Prince's 2007 in the context of his career. Last year he hit 28 bombs in 648 plate appearances. This year, he's got 50 in 658, plus he's cut his strikeouts down (marginally, from 125 to 116) and raised his walk total (significantly, from 58 to 83 after tonight). That makes for a jump in OPS from .830 last year to close to 1.000 this year. That's impressive for a guy that just turned 23 in May. Will he
Most importantly, of course, is that his two homers tonight have the Brewers way ahead of the Cardinals while the Cubs have already lost to the Marlins, meaning the Cubs lead will be down to 2 games after tonight. Where was this fight in the Brewers a month ago? It might be too little too late, but at least they aren't rolling over.
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Reader Comments ( Page 1 of 1)
1. "Will he be the second straight NL Rookie of the Year to jump to MVP? There's certainly a chance."
Only if he changes his name to Hanley Ramirez...
Posted at 11:05PM on Sep 25th 2007 by Jason S.
2. Damn, you are definitely right. I'm an idiot. Prince didn't even finish in the top five of voting last year and I knew that. It's fixed.
Posted at 12:05AM on Sep 26th 2007 by Pat Lackey
3. His power numbers have skyrocketed from last year, so people are naturally gonna assume he's cheating somehow. I wouldn't be surprised at all if he's taking a performance enhancer. As for the Brewers playoff chances, Prince is certainly doing his part. The Brewers dug their own grave in Atlanta though when their corp of relief pitchers couldn't hold leads in two of those three losses....their middle relief has failed them time and time again since the All Star break. Maybe next year Brew Crew.
Posted at 12:26AM on Sep 26th 2007 by JKlicious99
4. The Brewers have had a great year this season no matter where they wind up in the standings. I wouldn't have picked them to be pennant contenders.
Posted at 12:54AM on Sep 26th 2007 by George B Vieto
5. Yes, he is taking a performance enhancer. FAT. A big mass hits a little mass (baseball) little mass goes bye bye.
Posted at 1:03AM on Sep 26th 2007 by mastroauctions