How are ex-Tigers faring? Fielder, Kelly, Valverde, more

Is Prince Fielder coming back? So far, so good, in five spring training games with the Texas Rangers.

The first baseman was hitting .308 through Thursday, with a home run and five RBIs.

Traded from the Detroit Tigers for second baseman Ian Kinsler, Fielder sat out most of last season with a herniated disk. In 42 games, he hit just .247 with three homers and 16 RBIs.

Not only has the disk been repaired, by surgery, but so has his marriage — he spent every day last summer with his wife, Chanel, and their two sons — and his relationship with his father, fellow former Tiger Cecil Fielder.

"Looking back, getting hurt might have been the best thing that could have happened to me,'' Prince Fielder told USA TODAY. "Just having that year off, everything is so good now. It's just such a good feeling. I'm happy again. ...

"Me not being around baseball, all I could do was play catch. So all I wanted to do was play catch with my boys. Every single day. Then, it was like, 'Dad, dude, that's enough. We've been out here two hours. It's hot out here.'

"I'm in a full sweat, like I'm working out, and I say, 'I'm sorry. I thought y'all wanted to play.' I realized then how much I missed the game.

"I'm still young. I'm in my prime. And now I'm getting my second wind again and igniting that fire. I'm loving the game again.''

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Here's how some other recent Tigers are faring in their current locales:

• Rick Porcello, Boston Red Sox: He gave up four hits and one unearned run in three innings but got a no-decision in his first spring start. So his ERA is 0.00. His second start is tonight, against the dreaded New York Yankees.

• Austin Jackson, Seattle Mariners: The centerfielder was hitting .385 in his first five games this spring, but with just one run and one RBI. He hit just .229 in 54 games last season, after he was traded to Seattle in the three-team deal that brought David Price to the Tigers. "It was a tough transition," Mariners manager Lloyd McClendon — the former Tigers hitting coach — told the Tacoma News Tribune. "Offensively, he fell into some bad habits that we need to clean up."

• Drew Smyly, Tampa Bay Rays: The left-hander, who also moved in the Price deal, currently isn't throwing because of shoulder tendinitis.



• Torii Hunter, Minnesota Twins: He's back where started many years ago and was hitting .333 with one RBI in his first four spring games.



• Don Kelly, Miami Marlins: He was hitting .231 with two RBIs, four walks and five strikeouts in seven spring games, as he tries to fill a utility role for the Marlins. So far, he has played third base, leftfield, rightfield and designated hitter.



"Being able to bounce around and play anywhere definitely was part of it in coming to the National League," Kelly told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. "With Detroit, I still got to do that, but being in the National League with pinch-hitting, double-switches, so many things going on, it was very intriguing to me, being the player that I am."

• Doug Fister, Washington Nationals: The right-hander pitched two scoreless innings in his first spring start. He makes his second start today. He was 16-6 for the Nats last season.



• Jose Valverde, San Diego Padres: The former Tigers closer is 0-1 in three spring appearances, allowing one run (on a homer) in three innings as he tries to make the Padres' bullpen.



"I feel great," Valverde told mlb.com. "The way I feel right now is how I felt my first year with the Diamondbacks (in 2003, at age 25). It's my arm, mental, everything."



• Max Scherzer, Washington Nationals: He has given up two runs on eight hits (including a homer) in five innings over his first two starts for a 3.60 ERA. He has struck out five and walked none.



But Scherzer also has been just one of the guys and shown his new teammates his fun side, including persuading fellow starter Gio Gonzalez to say "meow" instead of "now" in a TV interview:

Contact Steve Schrader: sschrader@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @schradz.