The Pittsburgh Pirates signed 28-year old Josh Fields to a minor league deal today. Fields will also have an invite to Spring Training in Bradenton.
He is another former well hyped prospect, but has yet to perform at a high level despite 796 at-bats in the bigs. (.234/.303/.421) In the 2010 Baseball Prospectus, Fields was thought to be on his last shot at becoming a Major Leaguer. He has played other postions and gives the Pirates another option in pushing everyone at Bradenton and Fields has had monster spring training performances in the past.
Last season Fields played very little because in April he underwent surgery on his right hip. He did well in September baseball ripping three homers in 49 at-bats for the Royals. He has also played first base and outfield during his career.
Fields will compete for a utility player role with the club, backing up Pedro Alvarez at third and if he can show anything with the glove this could get interesting….and at the very least it keeps stacking the deck for AAA Indy.
In the video below, White Sox GM Kenny Williams said it’s way too early to worry about the struggles Fields was having. That’s the first sign there is a problem.
Original Story:
http://rumbunter.com/2010/12/20/pirat...
