LAKELAND, Fla. -- Looking at Daniel Fields, you might expect him to hit with power.
Fields stands 6-2 and weighs 215 pounds.
But in the minors Fields has never hit more than 10 home runs in a season.
Leading off the seventh inning in the Tigers' 12-6 victory over the Atlanta Braves, Fields crushed a ball to center field off Braves lefty Yean Carlos Gil.
"The wind was kind of blowing across the ball almost in a little bit," Tigers manager Brad Ausmus said. "That ball was hit a ton to get out today. I'll be honest with you, I didn't know that Daniel Fields had that much power."
Fields said he wasn't positive it was out when he hit it.
"It felt good when it came off the bat," Fields said. "I wasn't sure because I was looking at him and he looked like he had a little bead on the ball, especially with the wind blowing. Just praying when I was running the bases. It ended up getting out."
Fields said he had experimented with a leg kick in an attempt to get more power out of his swing, but abandoned it after last season.
Fields' father, Bruce, is the Tigers' hitting coordinator and had worked with his son on the leg kick.
"We thought with the leg kick, I can get a little bit more power out of that," Fields said. "I felt good with it but I told my dad I wanted to go back to what I was doing before, getting the foot down earlier and seeing it. That works for me."
Fields is happy to be in camp with the Tigers after having a tough 2014 season.
Last May a pitch broke Fields' right hand and he missed several weeks, setting him back.
Although he's not in line for a role with the Tigers this spring, that doesn't mean he can't show off his talents when he gets in spring games.
"It feels great to be healthy and 100 percent and know I can go out there with my best abilities, show them what I got and what I can do," Fields said. "It feels good. Just going to try to keep it going."
Fields is batting .455 so far this spring.
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COMPLETE TIGERS SPRING TRAINING 2015 COVERAGE
