The lasting image of Prince Fielder with the Detroit Tigers was him committing a baserunning blunder in Game 6 of the Tigers' ALCS loss to the Boston Red Sox. Fielder's nonchalant reaction towards the loss and his playoff performance ultimately contributed to his trade to the Texas Rangers.
Early on in the 2014 baseball season, Fielder's baserunning gaffes are coming back to rear its ugly head. Rangers manager Ron Washington called out Fielder for a baserunning mistake that killed a Rangers rally in an 8-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays on Friday.
Washington said Fielder "blew it" after Fielder stopped at third on a hit by Mitch Moreland. He failed to read coach Gary Pettis coming into third, got himself hung up between third and home and eventually tagged out, effectively squashing a brewing rally.
“Prince just blew it,” Washington said. “(Third base coach Gary Pettis) was winding, but Prince went back to the bag. … It's a different situation with runners on second and third with one out and a run in instead runners on second and third with two. You never know what would have happened. We might have only scored that one run right there, but I would have like to have seen what would have happened.”
Fielder's reaction wasn't anything dramatic even though it seems like Washington threw him under the bus.
“I didn’t get a good jump and I didn’t pick up Gary in time. It was one of those days. We played hard, but we made a couple of mistakes. We just have to come back and be sharper,” said Fielder.
If Fielder continues making mistakes like this and has an attitude that says there's always tomorrow, Rangers fans will run out of patience with the big man in a hurry.
