Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports is reporting that Prince Fielder’s career is over after spending three seasons in Texas.
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While no longer playing, Fielder didn’t formally retire, meaning the Rangers would have him on the 60-day disabled list during the regular season but would have to add him to their 40-man roster each offseason until the end of the contract. After surgery which put him out for that season, he cameback strong in the 2015 season and now has suffered the same neck injury this year, which will now require surgery and will put him out for the year, and now it seems, for his career.
Reports surfaced on Tuesday afternoon that former Detroit Tiger Prince Fielder will make an official announcement on Wednesday that his playing career is over.
The Tigers, who traded him to the Texas Rangers after the first two years of the deal, are still responsible for $6 million of his annual salary, with the Rangers paying the rest.
Fielder just had neck surgery on July 29, his second in 27 months. Though he faltered at the beginning of that first season – ruining his chances for Rookie of the Year honors – he finished strong and led all rookies that year with 28 home runs.
Just past year, it appeared as though Fielder might be able to play through his neck problems. He provided many people in Beloit with great memories that you can still hear about today at Snappers games and local businesses in the Stateline area.
Fielder was one of the best power hitters of his generation, hitting 50 home runs with the Brewers in 2007. In fact, he made the playoffs as a middle-of-the-order hitter for each of those three teams as well.
Sources: Prince Fielder’s career appears over. It is his third season in Texas after the club traded second baseman Ian Kinsler to the Detroit Tigers in exchange for the first baseman on November 20, 2013.
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Fielder is a career.283 hitter with 319 career HRs in 12 Major League Baseball seasons. In an odd twist of fate, Prince will finish his career with 319 home runs, the same number as Cecil, who played for the Tigers from 1990 to 1996. He also won the Home Run Derby twice, and will go down as one of the more exciting competitors in the history of the event.
