Former Brewers star shares wise advice he once received from Craig Counsell

Milwaukee Brewers manager Craig Counsell clearly knows what he’s doing, having led the Milwaukee Brewers to the NLCS with an unorthodox pitching setup. Apparently, that wisdom was present in his playing days, too.

Former Brewers star Prince Fielder, on hand Saturday to throw out the ceremonial first pitch ahead of Game 2, spent the last five seasons of his career as Counsell’s teammate in Milwaukee. It turns out Fielder remembers pretty vividly an instance where Counsell had a clear message about bunting.

Prince Fielder, asked to give an example of how Craig Counsell helped him as a teammate:

"There was one time I was thinking about bunting. He told me if I bunted he would punch me in the face."

— Adam McCalvy (@AdamMcCalvy) October 13, 2018

Amusingly, Counsell’s aversion to bunting has carried over to managing. He’s proven to be unorthodox in other ways, too, but this was pretty straightforward advice. After all, Fielder was one of the game’s most feared power hitters during his prime in Milwaukee.