Cecil and Prince Fielder amazed by Christian Yelich

Thomas Lott

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Cecil and Prince Fielder amazed by Christian Yelich image

Prince and Cecil Fielder know a little bit about hitting.

The two players combined to hit 638 home runs in their careers, which spanned 25 MLB seasons, while making nine All-Star teams and winning six Silver Sluggers.

But as good as they were, that doesn't exclude them from being amazed by Brewers outfielder and reigning National League MVP Christian Yelich.

"He's been hot for like two years in a row now," Prince told Sporting News behalf of Kingsford Charcoal and its Taste of The Game – Body By BBQ campaign. Check out the photos below. "That's hard to do, I mean, he had the great MVP season last year and then to keep it going right into this season…he's locked in."

Over the last two years, Yelich has been as good of a hitter as there is in MLB. Since the start of the second half in 2018, Yelich is slashing .351/.446/.750 with 43 home runs and 108 RBIs.

According to MLB.com, only two players ever have put up those numbers over a calendar year: Babe Ruth and Barry Bonds.

It's pretty elite company to be a part of and Cecil says it all has to do with Yelich's approach and his picture-perfect swing.

"He doesn't do anything over," Cecil said. "He doesn't overswing, he stays on the ball real well, he gets inside when you pitch him outside, there's nowhere to get him out, you can't get him out."

Yelich has missed the last two games as he deals with back spasms, but that is about the only thing that has slowed him down over the last two years.

His numbers have also exploded since the move to Miller Park in Milwaukee where he has hit 55 home runs over the last year and a half after combining to hit 59 during his first five seasons with the Marlins.

While Yelich is putting up historic numbers in that time, MLB has also seen a stark rise in offense and home runs this season and over each of the last four years.

MLB broke the home-run record as a league in 2017 by totaling 6,105 homers, breaking the all-time mark of 5,694, set in 2000. This season, the league is on pace to break that record again as teams are averaging 1.31 home runs per game.

There has been plenty of talk about the rise in power across the game and Cecil and Prince are here for it.

"You look at when we went on strike, the only year we didn't have a World Series and playoffs in '94, and then the few years it took us to get back," Cecil said. "And then Mark (McGwire) and Sammy (Sosa) went off and boom, baseball's back.

"Everybody loves home runs, everybody."

 

Thomas Lott