One step at a time

Josh Fields' rise through baseball's minor leagues has not been meteoric, but it has been steady.

Steady to the point that the Columbia Falls graduate and former Glacier Twins star is but a step away from pitching for the Chicago White Sox in a pennant chase.

Fields has worked his way up from rookie A ball in 2001 to the Triple A Charlotte Knights, top farm club to the AL Central Division-leading White Sox. All it could take for Fields to get called up to The Show is an injury in the Chicago bullpen.

For now, though, the 25-year-old right-hander is pitching as a setup man in the International League, posting the second-lowest ERA on the Knights, 3.38, in nearly 43 innings through Tuesday.

"I kind of do everything," Fields said during a telephone interview from Charlotte, N.C., on a rare off day.

"Middle relief to short relief - my numbers are pretty good, I'm holding my own."

After spending 2001 with the Bristol (Va.) Sox of the rookie Appalachian League (similar to the Pioneer League) as a 23rd-round draft choice, Fields advanced to low Class A in 2002. A month into the season he earned a promotion to high Class A where he spent a season and a half.

The 2004 season brought another promotion, this time to Double A Birmingham, Ala., in the Southern League, the same team Michael Jordan played for during his first retirement from basketball in the mid-1990s.

This year, Fields was determined to make the Knights coming out of spring training.

"I had a good spring," he said.

"I was fortunate to come out and be on the roster when it was all said and done. I had expected it, but you never take anything for granted.

"This is going to be one of the toughest jumps. We had a lot of older guys in camp and I knew it was going to be tough."

So far Fields has shown he belongs at the Triple A level, proving his worth among the mix of hot prospects, aging veterans hanging on and established major leaguers rehabbing injuries.

He has a 3-2 record in 32 appearances and has a better than 2-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio. Lately he has been called on to get the Knights out of dire situations like bases loaded, nobody out late in ballgames and has performed well.

"The competition is the toughest so far," Fields said. "It's a big jump. There's a lot more money. It gets to be more and more of a business. Once you get to this level, you're right there."

Fields is still not on the White Sox's 40-man roster - the 25 active players on the major league team plus anyone on the 15-day disabled list with the rest in the minor leagues who can be called up (or "recalled") at any time - but the way he is playing, it could only be a matter of time.

"I've worked very hard and stayed healthy, surrounded myself with good people," he said. "It's definitely a possibility. Anything is possible. God willing and a little luck, it will happen.

"It's kind of a double-edged sword. With all the success they have up there, they don't want to bring anybody up. But good things happen to good people."

Fields still remembers fondly his days in Columbia Falls, where he played football and basketball for the Wildcats and for Julio Delgado and the Twins - earning MVP honors in the state Legion tournament his senior year - before graduating in 1998.

"Most of my family still lives in the Valley," he said. "My mom and dad, aunts and uncles - they talk every day and they listen to all the games on the Internet.

"I come back to Montana and hunt and fish, but my girlfriend (Tiffany Davis) goes to law school in Florida, so for the next few years I'm going to be a Floridian."

His cousin, J.D. Fields, was a key member of this year's state basketball championship team, much to the delight of Josh.

"When I played we were pretty good, but we ended up getting beat in divisionals," he said. "I told J.D. he'd better get the family name on the trophy."

These days, Josh's life is consumed with baseball. The Triple A season is 144 games long over 152 days - with three of the scheduled days off over the All-Star Break early next month.

During the traditional offseason, Fields has spent time in the Arizona Fall League and played winter ball in Venezuela.

Through it all - five years as a professional after attending Mesa Community College in Arizona - the self-described "small town kid" has not forgotten his roots here in the Flathead Valley.

And even if he did, he occasionally gets an unexpected reminder.

"In Indianapolis, a guy with a Plum Creek hat came down and talked to me in the bullpen," Fields said.

"I want to thank the people who send e-mails and letters, thank people for their continued support. Other than that, see you during hunting season."