Joshua Dean Fields (born December 14, 1982) is an American former professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

infielder An infielder is a baseball player stationed at one of four defensive "infield" positions on the baseball field. Standard arrangement of positions In a game of baseball, two teams of nine players take turns playing offensive and defensive roles. ...

. He played in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

for the

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and p ...

and

Kansas City Royals The Kansas City Royals are an American professional baseball team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Royals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team was founded as an expans ...

, and in

Nippon Professional Baseball or NPB is the highest level of baseball in Japan. Locally, it is often called , meaning ''Professional Baseball''. Outside Japan, it is often just referred to as "Japanese baseball". The roots of the league can be traced back to the formation ...

for the

Yomiuri Giants The are a Japanese professional baseball team competing in Nippon Professional Baseball's Central League. Based in Bunkyo, Tokyo, they are one of two professional baseball teams based in Tokyo, the other being the Tokyo Yakult Swallows. They ...

Collegiate career

Fields was a two-sport athlete at

Oklahoma State University Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New ...

, playing both

and

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

. He was selected as a

Big 12 Conference The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference headquartered in Irving, Texas, USA. It consists of ten full-member universities. It is a member of Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for all sports. Its ...

All-Star at third base in , and had a career

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

of .364 over three years. Fields also earned three letters as a

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

for the Cowboys. He led the team to two

bowl game In North America, a bowl game is one of a number of post-season college football games that are primarily played by teams belonging to the NCAA's Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). For most of its history, the Division I Bowl Subdivis ...

s, including setting the Cotton Bowl Classic record with 307 passing yards against the University of Mississippi.

Professional career

Chicago White Sox

Fields was selected as the 18th overall pick in the first round of the 2004 Major League Baseball draft by the

. Entering , he was ranked as the fourth-best prospect in the White Sox organization and the 95th-best prospect in Major League Baseball by ''Baseball America''. He hit safely in 14 straight games from August 6 – August 21 for the Birmingham Barons, tied for the eighth-longest streak in the Southern League (1964–2020), Southern League. Prior to the season, Fields was once again ranked as the fourth-best prospect in the White Sox organization by ''Baseball America''. He Home run, homered in four consecutive games from May 11 – May 14 with the Charlotte Knights, and was selected to play in the All-Star Futures Game at Pittsburgh's PNC Park. Fields made his major league debut on September 13, against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, but did not record his first major league at-bat until September 18. In that game against the Detroit Tigers, Fields hit a Pinch hitter, pinch-hit home run off Detroit's Jamie Walker (baseball), Jamie Walker. He became the third player in White Sox history to hit a home run in his first major league at-bat, joining Carlos Lee (May 7, ) and Miguel Olivo (September 15, ) as the only other White Sox to do so. Fields entered the season ranked as the second-best prospect in the White Sox organization and the 45th-best prospect in Major League Baseball by ''Baseball America''. Although he started the season at Triple-A Charlotte, he was called up to the White Sox in June after a season ending back injury to third baseman Joe Crede. He recorded his first multi-home run game on August 10 against the Seattle Mariners, hitting both off Starting pitcher, starter Jarrod Washburn. On August 26, , Fields made his first start in left field, though he only played 21 games at that position before being moved back to third base. Fields ended his first season as a Major Leaguer by hitting a promising .244, 23 home runs, 67 Run batted in, RBI, and an On-base plus slugging, OPS of .788 in 100 games. His 23 home runs tied him with Bill Melton for the third-most home runs by a White Sox player in their rookie season, though Melton accomplished that feat in 157 games. Fields received one third-place vote for AL Rookie of the Year, finishing in a tie for seventh place in the overall voting. Entering spring training for the season, Fields was expected to be the starting third baseman, with Crede likely to be traded. However, Crede arrived at camp fully recovered from his injury and White Sox general manager Kenny Williams (baseball), Kenny Williams was said to be unsatisfied with the trade offers. This resulted in Crede being given the starting job and Fields once again beginning the season in Triple-A Charlotte. Fields had a disappointing, injury-riddled season with the Knights, in which he regressed to a .246 batting average, 10 home runs, 35 RBI and .772 OPS in 75 games. On July 25, 2008, he was called up to play with the White Sox after Crede was put on the 15-day disabled list. Fields underwent arthroscopic knee surgery at the end of the 2008 season,Fields to undergo off-season surgery
/ref> and was the White Sox's starting third baseman in until Gordon Beckham was recalled from Triple-A Charlotte on June 4 and took the position. On July 23, 2009, in a game against the Tampa Bay Rays, Fields hit a Grand slam (baseball), grand slam in his first plate appearance of the game. This would later end up being the game-winning home run in Mark Buehrle's Perfect game (baseball), perfect game over the Tampa Bay Rays, winning 5–0. Fields also caught the final out of the perfect game, a groundout to White Sox shortstop Alexei Ramírez. Six days later, he would be demoted to Triple-A Charlotte to make room for newly acquired Mark Kotsay.

Kansas City Royals

On November 6, 2009, Fields, along with Chris Getz, was traded by the White Sox to the

in exchange for Mark Teahen. He played in 13 games for the Royals, hitting .306 with three home runs and 6 RBI.

Pittsburgh Pirates/Colorado Rockies

On December 20, 2010, Fields was signed to a minor league contract by the Pittsburgh Pirates. However, on March 28, he was traded by the Pirates to the Colorado Rockies at the conclusion of spring training for a player to be named later or cash considerations. He recorded a .365 batting average with 11 home runs and 45 RBI in 50 games with the Triple-A Colorado Springs Sky Sox before being released on June 28, in order to pursue a career in Japan.

Yomiuri Giants

Fields signed with the

in Japan on June 28, 2011. In 40 games with the Giants, he hit only .202 with two home runs and 9 RBI.

Los Angeles Dodgers

Fields signed a minor league contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers on January 4, 2012. After failing to win a spot on the Dodgers Opening Day roster, he was assigned to the Triple-A Albuquerque Isotopes. He played in 133 games for the Isotopes, posting a .322 average with 13 home runs and 71 RBI.

Philadelphia Phillies

In November 2012, Fields signed with the Philadelphia Phillies. He played in 109 games with the Triple-A Lehigh Valley IronPigs in 2013, batting .289 with four home runs and 45 RBI.

Piratas de Campeche

Fields played his final two seasons in 2014 and 2015 in the Mexican League for the Piratas de Campeche.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fields, Josh 1982 births Living people Albuquerque Isotopes players American expatriate baseball players in Japan American expatriate baseball players in Mexico American football quarterbacks Arizona League Royals players Baseball players from Oklahoma Birmingham Barons players Charlotte Knights players Chicago White Sox players Colorado Springs Sky Sox players Kansas City Royals players Lehigh Valley IronPigs players Major League Baseball third basemen Mexican League baseball first basemen Mexican League baseball third basemen Nippon Professional Baseball first basemen Nippon Professional Baseball third basemen Northwest Arkansas Naturals players Oklahoma State Cowboys baseball players Oklahoma State Cowboys football players Sportspeople from Ada, Oklahoma Peoria Saguaros players Piratas de Campeche players Senadores de San Juan players Tiburones de La Guaira players American expatriate baseball players in Venezuela Winston-Salem Warthogs players Yomiuri Giants players