page_title: Sam Fuld
section_title: 2011
hierarchical_section_title: Sam Fuld / Professional baseball career / Major leagues / Tampa Bay Rays / 2011
caption_attribution_description: English: Tampa Bay Rays' Sam Fuld diving
context_page_description: Samuel Babson Fuld is an American former professional baseball outfielder. He played eight seasons in Major League Baseball for the Chicago Cubs, Tampa Bay Rays, Oakland Athletics, and Minnesota Twins. Fuld is currently the major league player information coordinator for the Philadelphia Phillies.
  Fuld was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at the age of 10. He began his baseball career by twice batting .600 in high school, during which time Baseball America ranked him 19th in the country. Fuld played college baseball at Stanford. There, he was a two-time All-American, set the school record for career runs scored, and established the College World Series record for career hits.
  Fuld was selected by the Chicago Cubs in 2004 Major League Baseball draft. He was an All Star two years later in the Florida State League. A year after that, Fuld was voted the Most Valuable Player in the Arizona Fall League. In the minors — as a result of his defensive play — he was referred to as "a crash test dummy with a death wish", a "human wrecking ball act", a "wall magnet", and a "manager's dream and a trainer's worst nightmare".
  Fuld made his major league debut with the Cubs in 2007.
context_section_description: Fuld's play with the Cubs was limited to late-season call-ups over three years, including just 40 starts.  After the 2010 season, they traded him to the Tampa Bay Rays.  He was traded with minor leaguers Hak-Ju Lee, Brandon Guyer, Robinson Chirinos, and Chris Archer for starting pitcher Matt Garza, outfielder Fernando Perez, and Zac Rosscup.
  
  Manager Joe Maddon noted Fuld's outstanding walks-to-strikeouts ratio, which Maddon referred to as "freaky-weird":  325 walks vs. 272 strikeouts in his professional career.  Maddon said: "He's a major-league baseball player right now.... He's been needing opportunity; he's probably going to get the opportunity here right now."  He also observed that Fuld is a:  
  very, very good defender. He has really great instincts out there, and a fine arm. He works excellent at-bats.... If somebody were to get hurt, this guy could fill in on a regular basis for a while. He's not going to be overwhelmed by anything. Great makeup.... He's a pretty tough kid.
  Rays hitting coach Derek Shelton observed that: "[Fuld's] contact ratio is off the charts.  He has probably one of the shortest swings I've ever seen."  General manager Andrew Friedman said: "He's a guy with a very interesting profile. He's a plus defender in all three (outfield) spots, with superior contact skills, and a really good ability to discern balls and strikes ... and an ability to hit line drives with ... high frequency."
  Fuld made the team's Opening Day roster, his first in the majors, as its fourth outfielder, and a late-inning weapon off the bench, speedster pinch runner, and defensive replacement.  Tommy Rancel of ESPN described him as: "Tampa Bay's version of Brett Gardner; albeit in a reduced role". However, with Manny Ramirez sudden retirement, left fielder Johnny Damon became the team's DH expanding Fuld's role. On April 7, he stole a career-high 3 bases in one game, and Maddon began penciling him into the lineup as the team's everyday leadoff hitter.
  On April 9, playing right field against the Chicago White Sox who had the bases loaded, Fuld made what the Tampa Tribune called "one of the best catches in team history". Rays center fielder B.J. Upton said:  "Oh my god, oh my. I thought he was going to dive into the [wall].... I was screaming from center field when he caught it. 'Great catch!' Should be play of the year so far." His popularity spread on the internet by late April, with the Toronto Sun writing:  "Fuld ranks in the Top 10 in batting average, runs, and triples, and also leads the AL in stolen bases and YouTube hits, especially video hits for a catch in Chicago diving towards the right field corner onto the warning track that has been set to a Superman theme."
  Later in the month Maddon compared Fuld's play favorably to that of Gold Glove left fielder Carl Crawford, saying that Fuld had a better arm, and compared his style of play to that of former perennial Gold Glove center fielder Jim Edmonds.
  On April 11, as a reporter for major league baseball described it, Fuld "turned Fenway Park into his personal playground."  Fuld missed hitting for the cycle only because he opted to stretch a single into a double.  He had already hit a double, triple, and home run in a game against the Boston Red Sox when he came up in the 9th inning in a runaway game which the Rays won 16–5. Had he stopped at first base, he would have been the second player in Tampa Bay Rays history to hit for the cycle, joining B.J. Upton.  Maddon observed that Fuld's refusal to stay at first reflected his integrity. He became the fifth player in Tampa Bay history to have four extra-base hits in a game, and the first since Tomás Pérez in 2006.  His four extra-base hits and 11 total bases were also records for a Fenway Park debut.
  His "Superman" YouTube video was joked about on Twitter with tweets at the  #LegendofSamFuld hash tag, such as "Sam Fuld was once intentionally walked while in the on deck circle", "The Red Sox check under their bed for Sam Fuld", and Maddon's favorite: "Superman wears a Sam Fuld T-shirt to bed."  Though not a Twitter user, Ful
caption: Fuld sliding into a base in 2011
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