The Franklin Reporter & Advocate Eight Villages, One Community
Bridgewater, NJ – The Somerset Patriots have announced the re-signing of first baseman Matt Fields.
“I am extremely excited about coming back to play in Somerset,” said Fields. “Last year, I was in a place where baseball was not fun anymore, and [the Patriots] changed that for me. I look forward to having fun, growing as a player and winning another championship with everyone!”
Fields returns for his second season with the Somerset Patriots and in the Atlantic League. The former draft pick by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays signed with the Patriots on September 1 last year after spending the majority of 2015 in the Kansas City Royals organization with Triple-A Omaha. Fields played in 14 games with Somerset to end the regular season, hitting .261 with five home runs and 12 RBI.
The Seattle, Washington native continued to show off his power with the Somerset Patriots in the postseason, where he led the team with three home runs and eight RBI over nine games. That included a two-home run, four-RBI performance against the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs in Game Three of the Atlantic League Championship Series.
“We could not ask for a better power presence for the middle of our lineup than Matt,” said manager Brett Jodie. “He was a huge reason we won the 2015 championship. Matt is a guy who creates matchup problems for other teams, makes others in the lineup better and is a very underrated first baseman.”
Fields has service with the Rays, Royals and Arizona Diamondbacks organizations, reaching as high as Triple-A (2014, 2015) with Kansas City. In 2014, he hit .262 for Triple-A Omaha and finished third in the Pacific Coast League in home runs (28) and 10th in RBI (81).
The year before, Fields led the Texas League in home runs (31) and finished third in RBI (87) with Double-A Northwest Arkansas. He has hit at least 11 home runs in each of the past nine seasons, dating back to 2007.
The second-year Patriot has 950 hits, 201 doubles, 14 triples, 195 home runs and 642 RBI over 1,055 minor league games.
The Somerset Patriots won their Atlantic League leading sixth championship during the 2015 season. Tickets are now on-sale for the upcoming 2016 season and the schedule can be viewed at www.somersetpatriots.com. For more information or to purchase tickets for the 2016 season, stop by TD Bank Ballpark, call (908) 252-0700, or visit www.somersetpatriots.com.
