Prince Semien Fielder (born May 9, 1984) is an American former professional baseball player who played as a first baseman and designated hitter in Major League Baseball (MLB). He played for the Milwaukee Brewers, Detroit Tigers, and Texas Rangers. He was chosen in the first round of the 2002 MLB draft by the Brewers after graduating from Eau Gallie High School in Melbourne, Florida. He spent the first seven years of his MLB career with the Brewers before joining the Tigers in January 2012. In November 2013, Fielder was traded to the Rangers, where he played the rest of his career.
Fielder was named to the All-Star team six times. He holds the Brewers' record for the most home runs and runs batted in (RBI) in a single season. He is also the youngest player in National League (NL) history to hit 50 home runs in one season. He was the first player from the Brewers to win the Home Run Derby, defeating Nelson Cruz in the final round of the 2009 derby. Fielder won the Home Run Derby again in 2012, joining Ken Griffey Jr. (and later Yoenis Céspedes and Pete Alonso) as the only players to win the derby more than once. He is also the first player to win the derby as both an American League (AL) and NL All-Star.
On August 10, 2016, Fielder announced he could no longer play baseball after having a second neck surgery in three years. The Rangers released him 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 in his MLB career, which is more than his father’s total of 1,008 RBIs. Prince and Cecil Fielder are the only father-son pair to each hit 50 home runs in a single MLB season. They were the only such pair to hit 40 home runs in a season until 2021, when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and his father also achieved this feat.
Early life
Fielder was originally a right-handed hitter, but his father, Cecil Fielder, a baseball player, taught him to hit left-handed when he was very young. Fielder often stayed near his father's teams' clubhouses as he grew up. He appeared with his father on the TV show MTV Rock N' Jock Softball. When his father played for the Detroit Tigers, Fielder sometimes joined him during batting practice. At age 12 in 1996, Fielder hit a home run off Tigers third base coach Terry Francona into the upper deck of Tiger Stadium.
Fielder attended Saint Edward's School in Vero Beach, Florida, for two years, where he played junior varsity baseball. He spent his first three years of high school at Florida Air Academy in Melbourne, Florida. Later, he transferred to Eau Gallie High School in the Eau Gallie neighborhood of Melbourne to play baseball during his senior year in 2002. That year, he hit .524 with 13 doubles, 10 home runs, 41 RBIs, and 47 runs. He was named All-Space Coast Player of the Year by Florida Today in 2002. Fielder committed to play college baseball at Arizona State University.
Professional career
The Milwaukee Brewers selected Fielder in the first round of the 2002 Major League Baseball draft, with the seventh overall pick. 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 the game. Ogden later won the game 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. He 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. Fielder 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 finished the season with the Brewers, where he was used as a pinch-hitter. He was the sixth-youngest player in the league.
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.
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 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.
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,
Post-playing career
Fielder was the hitting coach for the American League team in the 2024 All-Star Futures Game.
Personal life
Fielder was named after his grandfather. He married Chanel in 2005 during the Triple-A All-Star game while playing for the Nashville Sounds. The couple has two sons. One son, Jadyn Fielder, was signed by the Brewers in 2024 after not being chosen in the MLB draft. Fielder asked for a divorce in May 2013, but he and Chanel got back together by March 2014. They live in Windermere, Florida.
Fielder has a tattoo on the left side of his neck that reads, "왕자," which means "Prince" in Korean.