Fields coming to Montana to rehab
Nothing like coming home to get back into it.
Columbia Falls native Josh Fields, who pitched for the Chicago White Sox's AAA affiliate Charlotte Knights last season before suffering a season-ending shoulder injury, is coming back from the injury and has been assigned to the Great Falls White Sox for a month-long rehabilitation stint.
"I'm fortunate that they (the White Sox) let me go back to Montana to rehab," Fields said. "It's the only place in the organization I haven't pitched. I am very grateful for the opportunity."
The Great Falls team is in the rookie level Pioneer League.
The 6-foot-1, 180-pound, 26-year-old pitcher was in his fifth season of professional baseball and pitching very well at the AAA level when he suffered a torn labrum in his throwing shoulder in August. The injury required surgery and he is now nine months into rehab.
The labrum is a ring of fibrous cartilage that aids in shoulder stability. It is a common injury among pitchers.
He arrives in Columbia Falls from Tucson, Ariz., Thursday and gets to spend the weekend with family and friends. He will also work out with his former team, the Glacier Twins, Friday. He has been in Tucson at the White Sox's spring training facility rehabbing since his Sept. 2, 2005, surgery. He reports to Great Falls, the defending Pioneer League champions, Tuesday. The team's first game of the season is June 20 in Billings.
Fields is confident he will not have to go up through Class A and AA ball again in order to reach Charlotte - the AAA team.
"I've already done all of that," Fields said. "I'm with the (AAA team) now. I ran with them and came close (to going to the majors)."
Fields finished last season with a 4-5 record and a 2.75 ERA. He pitched 68 2/3 innings in 55 games as one of the Knights' top men out of the bullpen. He gave up only 21 walks while striking out 51 batters and posted a very good statistic of 1.19 walks and hits per inning pitched (WHIP). He was very close to being considered for a callup to the big club as it prepared for its eventual World Series championship.
Fields said he kind of did everything for the International League team - middle relief to short relief. He spent 2001 with the Bristol (Va.) Sox of the rookie Appalachian League, which is similar to Montana's Pioneer League, as a 23rd-round draft choice out of Mesa Community College in Arizona. He advanced and started 2002 at low Class A and a month into the season was promoted to high Class A, where he spent a season and a half. He started the 2004 season with the Class AA Birmingham Barons, who Michael Jordan played for after retiring from the NBA in the mid-1990s.