Brewers: Fielder presents a perfect image

By Vic Feuerherd

Mar. 30, 2008 (McClatchy-Tribune Regional News delivered by Newstex) --
There's one thing everyone should know about Prince Fielder:

Those who enter his kingdom should be prepared.

That was the case earlier this spring when the Milwaukee Brewers' star first baseman was finished with his day of work and he was engaging in some banter with Jason Shawger, one of the team's clubhouse attendants at Maryvale Baseball Park in Phoenix.

Shawger was going about his daily duties, arranging uniforms in players' lockers, as he and Fielder went back and forth. Finally, feigning exasperation as Shawger challenged every word, Fielder's voice boomed through the near-empty clubhouse.

"You hang up the clothes," Fielder yelled at Shawger, "and I hit the home runs."

With those as his parting words, Fielder headed off to the trainer's room. Shawger turned around and smiled.

"He doesn't talk to you like that unless he likes you," he said with a smile.

***

Fielder certainly has a grasp on his -- and other's -- responsibilities for the Brewers.

He is the one who hits the home runs, 50 of them last year to become the youngest player to reach that mark.

He's the one who knocks in runs, 119 last season.

He's the one who also hits for average, .288 in his second season.

Combine those numbers and is it any wonder he finished third in balloting for the National League MVP, an award that likely would have been his had the Brewers been able to hold on to their lead and win the NL Central last September?

Is this the season for an encore?

"I better," he said, "or I'll be in trouble."

Not with you or me or his teammates, though. He'll be in trouble with one person only: Himself.

The 23-year-old Fielder demands much of his teammates, but more of himself. He mixes in the clubhouse with the other young players who came up through the ranks with him, players such as shortstop J.J. Hardy, second baseman Rickie Weeks and right fielder Corey Hart.

But as impressive is how he mixes with the veterans, players such as reserve infielder Craig Counsell or new center fielder Mike Cameron, two players who counseled Fielder earlier this spring when he didn't think he was hitting the way he should.

He listens. He speaks. He plays.

"A lot of players would take a year like Prince had last year and be satisfied with that, but that doesn't satisfy Prince," manager Ned Yost said. "He wants to be the best defending first baseman, a good baserunner, a good clutch hitter. But most of all, he wants this team to win. He's going to continue to grow and evolve as a player because he wants to be great."

***

There is no doubt Prince Fielder is a proud man.

It shows in his relationships with opposing players, which are very friendly for the most part but nasty if you cross him.

Ask Carlos Zambrano, the Chicago Cubs' right-hander who will be on the mound Monday when the Brewers open the regular season at Wrigley Field.

Zambrano made some less-than-complimentary remarks about the Brewers' offensive firepower early last season. Fielder then went 7-for-17 (.412) with five walks (.545 on-base percentage) against Zambrano the rest of the season.

Ask Pittsburgh reliever Matt Capps, who nearly beaned Fielder late in a game last May.

Fielder steamed, but he held his emotions in check as he walked to first base that night. The next day, he hit two homers and scored the go-ahead run on Bill Hall's single off Capps. No one who was at Miller Park that Sunday afternoon will soon forget it, because of Fielder's emotional reaction to the play.

"When something isn't right," Fielder said, "you want to handle it on the field."

Fielder's pride knows no boundaries, whether it's in his stormy relationship with his father, Cecil, the former major league slugger to whom the younger Fielder does not speak, or even his ballclub's front office.

The biggest story in an otherwise quiet spring training this year came early in March, when the Brewers announced they had renewed the contracts of Fielder, Hart and left fielder Ryan Braun.

Three reporters gathered near the entrance to the Brewers' clubhouse at Maryvale Baseball Park as Fielder left the morning workout to get some lunch before playing in an exhibition game.

Asked for his reaction to being renewed at $670,000 for the season, Fielder didn't hold back.

"My time will come, and it's coming quick, too," he said, clearly angry at what he thought was a snub by the Brewers.

But as angry as he was at that moment, he quickly turned the page.

"I'm not thinking about the future, because I have to play baseball now," Fielder said. "I'm done with the contract stuff."

While fans fretted about how the contract situation might affect Fielder and the Brewers this season, there wasn't anyone in the clubhouse who didn't think Fielder would turn that anger around and let it out on opposing pitchers.

If that proves to be the case, that six-figure salary for this season could be more like an eight-figure number next season.

***

Yost remembers the pudgy first baseman who made his first appearance in Milwaukee's major league camp in 2004. Yost could see the potential, but he also saw some trouble.

"He'd make a bad play and be moping around, and I'd bring him in my office and tell him to knock that off," Yost said. "When we brought him up to the big leagues (in mid-2005), I was thinking I'd have to bring this kid into my office once a week."

Now, as Yost sat in his spring training office, he marvelled at his first baseman.

"I've never had to have him in my office," he said. "He could be the most intense player I've ever been around."

Yost started seeing something special in Fielder during spring training in 2006.

It wasn't how he played or swung the bat -- there was never any question about that. It was more how he interacted with his teammates. The lessons he learned all those years following his father around in major league clubhouses were evident.

"I told our coaches two years ago to start mentoring this guy, because he's going to become a leader," Yost said. "Very rapidly, he is going to take this club over."

There was little doubt that was the case last season. Fielder's play landed him a spot on the NL All-Star team in fan voting, at a position laden with star players. He was at his best down the stretch, hitting .333 with 11 homers in the season 's final month.

"To be the heart and soul of a major league team at his age is unusual," Yost said. "To be a leader of a team at his age is unusual. There are only a few hitters in the league that really intimidate a team and managers and he's one of them. At such a young age, that's unusual."

Newstex ID: KRTB-0219-24121453