Prince Fielder'$ amazing number$

Someone wrote me the other day, mentioning that Prince Fielder will make over $40,000 per at-bat with the Tigers this year – based on the number of at-bats he had last year with Milwaukee.

I didn’t write back with a correction because the reader was right. The comment didn’t appear to be a judgment of whether that’s too much; it was just a numerical statement.

Here are some other numerical statements as you wonder why you didn’t spend more time on your home-run swing than your history homework.

With a $23 million salary, Fielder will make $40,421.79 per at-bat this year if he has 569 at-bats again.

But if you’re breaking down the salary based on hitting, do it for plate appearances, not at-bats. In that case, Fielder will make $33.236.99 per plate appearance.

Within those appearances, using last year’s stats as the projection, will be $5.7 million worth of hits, $3.6 million worth of walks and $3.5 million worth of strikeouts.

Heck, at that rate, Fielder will even draw $1.1 million worth of intentional walks (32).

But plate appearances may not be the correct yardstick, either, because they don’t take defense into account.

If you really want to get incremental, consider this: Fielder played in 1,394 2/3 innings iin 2011. At this year’s salary, he’ll make $16,491.40 per inning.

And $148,422.56 per nine.

Astounding amounts for one year, let alone for the next nine years – which is the length of his contract.

He’ll be paid $23 million for the first two years, then $24 million for each of the last seven.

But Fielder is proficient at what he does, plays a professional sport that generously rewards its stars and, you know what? There’s no denying he’s a star.

If there was a Prince for a Day promotion, however, the line would wind five times around the ballpark.

Prince for an Inning? Twice around.