Prince Fielder’s Son Jadyn Gets Traded to the Astros in Surprise Twist of McCullers Deal
The Astros pulled off a sneaky win Wednesday. Not with a headline-grabbing acquisition. With a name most casual baseball fans have never heard.
Prince Fielder son Jadyn is now a member of the Houston Astros organization. He was included as an additional piece in the Lance McCullers Jr. trade with the Milwaukee Brewers, a swap that was originally reported as a one-for-one deal.
Turns out it was a two-for-one, and the Astros got a Fielder as the extra prize.
Jadyn Fielder is a 19-year-old outfielder who was a top-100 pick in last year draft. The Brewers took him in the third round out of a Michigan high school and had watched him develop nicely in the low minors. Now Houston gets to finish that development.
The kid has serious tools. He is listed at 6 feet 2 inches, 210 pounds. He runs well for his size. He has already shown power potential, hitting 12 home runs in his first minor league season. Baseball America ranked him inside their top 20 in the Milwaukee system before this deal.
Getting him as an extra piece in a rental trade for McCullers is a coup for Houston front office.
The father factor is real. Prince Fielder had one of the great slugging careers of his era before injuries cut him down. He mashed 319 home runs before a neck injury forced him to retire at 32. Cecil Fielder, Prince dad, was one of the most feared power hitters of the late 80s and early 90s. That is generational bloodline power.
Jadyn has that same body type and swing profile. If he develops at all, the Astros just added a legitimate future middle-of-the-order bat for pennies on the dollar.
The trade also shifts how you evaluate the McCullers deal for both sides. Milwaukee is not just paying to add a veteran innings guy. They are giving up a real prospect to get him. That says a lot about how much they love McCullers fit in their rotation for a playoff push.
McCullers has been up and down since returning from the injuries that cost him almost two full seasons. He has flashed the old form in stretches. He has struggled with command in others. He is exactly the kind of high-variance veteran arm the Brewers can afford to gamble on right now with their lead in the National League Central holding steady.
For Houston, they cleared some payroll, added a top-20 organizational prospect, and gave themselves flexibility to make another move before the August 3 deadline. Their farm system needed the injection.
Astros GM Dana Brown has been quietly one of the most active executives in baseball over the last month. Between the McCullers trade, some smaller waiver claims, and rumored interest in a couple of bat-first infielders, Houston is positioning for both this year and next.
Jadyn Fielder is not going to help the big-league club this season or probably next. But if he hits, this trade will get remembered as the deal where Houston stole a future star. The name alone gets scouts excited. The bloodline gets front offices betting.
Now we get to see if the son plays like the dad. Astros fans should be very interested to find out.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
