Texas Rangers

Are We Starting To See The Real Prince Fielder?

Look who may finally be getting his groove back.

Prince Fielder hit what could be considered a missile in the Rangers’ 6-2 win over the Red Sox Sunday in Arlington. Why would you call it a missile? That ball had an exit velocity of 111 mph, one of the fastest, if not the fastest, to fly over the fence in MLB this season. In other words, if you blinked, you missed it.

So has the Prince of Arlington (probably should copyright that) finally turned it around? The Rangers D-H hit .350 with two home runs and five RBI during the homestand, both homers launched in the weekend series against Boston.

“I’m just hitting the ball harder,” said Fielder. “Making more contact, swinging at better pitches. That’s about it.”

Like stats? Here’s more. Fielder has multiple hits in each of his last two games and is currently riding an eight-game hitting streak, the longest streak since he had an eight-gamer last fall.

I’m sure many are wondering why it took so long or why it’s starting to happen now. Make no mistake about it; Fielder was not happy about being benched earlier this season after struggling at the plate.

“Through all the struggles there were times that Prince made hard outs and had quality at-bats,” said manager Jeff Banister. “The thing that he has done is stayed within his approach. I know that he changed a little bit after the two days down with the no step-back, which I think slowed it down a little bit. He allowed the ball to travel, to see the ball a little better.”

It seems like a brief break and a little tinkering with the swing is working magic at the moment. Now the key will be consistency. If Fielder returns to his old self, this Rangers line-up just became even more dangerous.

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