verdugo288

What a perfect nickname. Thunder. Dave Fielder. Here’s yet another guy from Verdugo’s staggering rookie Class-of -’92 that just stepped in…and stepped up.

We knew he was going to be a player for us before the season began. It was just how good was he going to be? Let’s just say his bat and his glove and his arm (and his attitude) were his bolts of lightning….and we all know what happens right after lightning strikes right?

THUNDER….

Yeah….THUNDER.

He blew down NINE guys who tried running on him from behind the plate in ’92 during the regular season. Nobody ran on us anyways in ’92 (we only gave up 22 stolen bases during the regular season…think about that statistic) but usually early in the game a team would test the waters against us.

And Thunder’s message was “don’t even try”….

And usually after he blew a guy down who tried….they didn’t try again that day. Well….everybody but Sun Valley. Those guys just never learned.

When Evans went down with his injury the question was “who’s gonna hit in the three-hole?”

As we came down the stretch and played in all those big games we won, Dave Fielder became that guy. And a rookie…no less. A sixteen-year old rookie hitting in the three hole and putting up the numbers Thunder posted for us was reminiscent of what Canale did for us in ’90 as a rookie hitting in the four-hole the entire season.

And again….he did these numbers with everyone throwing their top dog against us.

His numbers didn’t drop off either when he took over the number three hole. He was the guy. He could hit for average, he could hit for power and could drive the ball up either gap ….and he had the speed.

Let’s face it everybody….you just don’t come across a catcher with the kind of speed this guy brought to the table.

I don’t want to downplay what he did for us defensively. You can’t. If you would have given me a choice of ALL the catchers available in the entire 20th district to put on my roster….any age as well ….this would have been the guy I would have picked. Absolutely no doubt about that at all.

The way he handled our pitchers. His arm. His toughness back there taking a beating. His personality. Yelling at guys on defense “hey get over there!” and directing traffic. This guy wasn’t shy. The ridiculously incredible athletic plays this guy could make defensively was something to behold.

To be honest, I expected him to do great things for us defensively in ’92. And that he did.

But I’ve said before I never expected any of our rookies to dominate at the plate. The pitching at this level is tough. But once a guy figures out how to handle things at this level….the sky is the limit.

That’s why I say it was his production offensively that was striking…that really stood out by the time the dust had settled.

Dave was 21 for 62 on the regular season….a .339 average. And then he went 6 for 14 in the playoffs. Yeah ….on the year he hit .355. Canale hit .360 for us his rookie year in 1990 and played in the All-Star game.

He came straight out of the gate and hit safely in the first six games of the year.

He was 2nd on the team in doubles with six during the regular season. But by the time the playoffs were over with …he actually tied with Robb Turner for the team lead with eight.

And you gotta know coming in that by the time the season was over that Thunder would lead the team in doses taken. He ended up tying for the team lead with Canale with three.

He was six-for-six stealing bases….third on the team behind Hack (with 9) and Gabe (with 7)

He lined out six times in ’92. He tied for the team lead in sacrifices with four. All four of them sacrifice flies. All of ’em deep enough to get us a run.

He not only hit the ball for us ….he hit the ball with authority.

Let’s just say when thunder “struck”….there was a certain finality to it.

I remember the double he hit against Notre Dame when we beat them the first time 5-1 at their yard. It cleared the bases and turned a 1-0 game into 3-0. It was late in the game. An absolutely CLUTCH shot up the gap into right-center. That one broke it open in my book.

That’s FINALITY.

The double he hit in game one of the sweep against Glendale didn’t score us any runs…but it would have cleared the bases anyways had Taormina not let Cowsill’s single go under his glove and roll all the way to the wall. An absolute shot that sent a message.

FINALITY.

The triple he hit in game 2 of that double header was really the ball we hit that day that literally broke their back, their will, and their spirit. It short-hopped the wall in left field.

FINALITY.

He absolutely gunned down a foolish Sun Valley base runner who tried to steal third against us with the game on the line in the top-of-the-ninth against Sun Valley when we were clinging to an 11-10 lead. Fucking CLUTCH again.

FINALITY.

The absolute SHOT he hit against fat bitch from Sun Valley….that sent him packing again and knocked him out of the game in our 7-3 playoff-clinching victory….

FINALITY.

The double he hit in the bottom-of-the 8th against Crespi in the playoffs ….the biggest game of the year….the one we let get away from us….scored a run to make it 6-5 Verdugo.

This one should have been FINALITY.

It was Dave Fielder’s double that day that finally gave us the lead and put us in position to where if we just got three outs before they scored a run….then we were automatically in the Championship Game of the double-elimination Tournament.

We would have automatically realized a dream….to play at Jackie Robinson Stadium in the next tournament. Even if we lost the 20th District Tournament. Yes….the winner of the 20th District Tournament and the runner-up advance to the next round.

Yeah….that’s how fucking HUGE that double was that he hit.

One could argue that that was the most CLUTCH at-bat we had the entire season. And he delivered. Again….one of our rookies had delivered.

We lost that game. It hurt. It hurt BAD. But I vividly remember after it was over telling him how FUCKING CLUTCH that double was.

Thunder got moved around quite a bit defensively for us before Evans got hurt. And just like Haggs….he never bitched about it. It was just like with Haggs at shortstop….when Lance got hurt….both Haggs and Thunder got to play where they belonged.

And boy did those two guys thrive when they got to play where they were supposed to be playing.

Fielder continued to dominate in ’93 and we will of course talk about that as well in coming posts when we get to ’93.

Between just Haggs and Fielder….a normal coach would be done by now bragging about his rookies!

Hell, a normal coach would be happy to brag about one of his rookies….

But no….we got more….we were blessed…we still got Bir, Vo, and Calf to talk about!!!!

Thunder….

Dave Fielder….

Another absolute monster of a rookie.

Thunder? What a season!!!!