Rangers teammates show love for Fielder during emotional goodbye

No one was closer to Prince Fielder in the Rangers clubhouse than Mitch Moreland. The two sluggers shared a position in first base and were locker mates in spring training and in Arlington. So it was particularly tough for Moreland to watch his close friend say goodbye to the game they love Wednesday afternoon.

Fielder retired for medical reasons after having a second neck surgery since May 2014.

“The game got taken away from him very prematurely in my opinion,” said Moreland after Fielder’s emotional news conference that included his two sons sitting next to him, along with the team, coaching staff and much of the front office on hand for support. “I want him to know that everybody in here is behind him, I’m behind him and I know he knows that.”

Rangers players were in unison praising Fielder the teammate, the friend, the soul of the clubhouse. It was sad to watch, Ian Desmond said, but the whole team supported their teammate.

“I was holding back tears the whole time,” said Desmond, who grew up hearing stories about fellow Floridian Prince Fielder. “To go out there like Prince has done his whole career and compete on a daily basis at an extremely high level shows his love for the game.

“Not only that, but his boys and his wife, it’s a journey for all of us. It’s a journey for all our families. To walk away from that early is something that I don’t want to imagine, but I certainly respect everything he’s done in his career.”

Fielder, who is still wearing a brace on his neck after the July 29 surgery, struggled to make the announcement as his emotions took over. His two boys, Jayden,12, and Haven, 10, were wiping away tears, too.

“It was tough to see him emotional like that and to see his boys up there crying. I have three kids of my own,” Desmond said. “For them to be cut short of that, it’s unfortunate. But he’s just an awesome guy and awesome dad. He’s raised two unbelievable kids and it sounded like that’s what he was most proud of.”

Elvis Andrus said it was tough to watch because he knows how much Fielder loves the game.

“He’s one of our brothers. He always will be, regardless if he’s playing or not,” Andrus said. “We wanted to take care of him. It was important for us to be there in this tough moment. We wanted to let him know we were there to support him not just right now, but forever.”

Holland, Lewis updates

Colby Lewis said he felt great after throwing off a mound for the first time in a 21-pitch bullpen session before Wednesday’s game.

He’s expected to have another MRI on Friday to check his sore right latissumus dorsi strain. He threw five changeups and 16 fastballs at about 85-90 percent effort. Lewis reported his fastball was at about 80-81 mph.

He’ll ramp up the intensity in his next bullpen and then throw a live bullpen session against a hitter for the first time.

Most important, he felt no pain.

“It’s just about not having that feeling. Making sure that feeling doesn’t come back,” he said. “Getting reps in and building back up and getting ready to go.”

Left-hander Derek Holland allowed one run on four hits and a walk in three innings for Triple A Round Rock on Wednesday night. It was Holland’s second rehab outing. He threw 55 pitches, including 32 strikes, and struck out two.

Stubbs back

Outfielder Drew Stubbs came off the disabled list before Wednesday’s game and Ryan Rua was optioned to Round Rock. To make room on the 40-man roster, infielder Kyle Kubitza was designated for assignment.

Kubitza has been on option to Round Rock. He attended Colleyville Heritage.

Stubbs has been out since May 23 with a sprained left small toe. At the time, Stubbs didn’t expect to miss any time, but the injury proved to be painful and took a long time to heal.

“I can attest to that because I saw two of the top five foot and ankle specialists in the country,” Stubbs said. “When you’ve got those two guys unable to give you a good timeline or answer for what it’s going to take to get me back out on the field, you know you’re dealing with a freak injury.

“It dragged on a lot longer than any of us expected but here we are, we still have a month and a half to go in the season and truthfully the most important part of the season, so hopefully I can step right in and help contribute to another division title.”

Stubbs will wear a special cushion in his shoe to protect the toe and have his toe taped up for stabilization.

“I wouldn’t say I’m at 100 percent, but I feel like I’m able to go out and operate pretty close to normal,” he said.

Briefly

▪ Rangers minor league award winners for July: Pitcher of the Month was Round Rock’s Nick Martinez; Player of the Month was High Desert outfielder Scott Heineman; Defender of the Month was High Desert catcher Jose Trevino and Reliever of the Month was Double A Frisco’s John Fasola.

▪ The Rangers signed outfielder Darin Mastroianni, 30, to a minor league deal. He’ll be assigned to Frisco. He played 51 games for Triple A Rochester (Twins) this season, hitting .259 with six doubles and 15 RBIs. He was released on Monday.

▪ Left-hander James Jones, who was recently transitioned from an outfielder to pitcher, was promoted to Low A Hickory from the Arizona Rangers. Right-hander Tyler Ferguson was promoted to Hickory from Rookie League Spokane, and left-hander Brett Martin was activated from the DL at Hickory and promoted to High Desert.

This story was originally published August 10, 2016 at 8:06 PM with the headline "Rangers teammates show love for Fielder during emotional goodbye."