Clint makes his mark with huge MLB debut
HOUSTON — Clint Frazier tightly and proudly held his home run baseball in his right hand as he walked back into the visiting clubhouse at Minute Maid Park late Saturday night.
“My mom and dad were crying, what a night,” Frazier told The Post as he walked away from the brief postgame meeting with his family.
Frazier had just had an incredible major league debut, but the Yankees managed to make it their worst loss of the season, as Dellin Betances suffered a bullpen meltdown in the eighth inning with Aroldis Chapman allowing the final two-run double to Cuban countryman Yuli Gurriel that lifted the Astros to a wild 7-6 victory.
Frazier, 22, became the first Yankee since 1913 to double and homer in his debut.
After all the talk about his flowing red hair and what he had to learn to be a Yankee, Frazier delivered on a night the Yankees wore red, white and blue to celebrate the upcoming Fourth of July holiday.
Frazier, the self-proclaimed “black sheep,’’ put on his own fireworks show.
When he came into the dugout after his seventh-inning home run gave the Yankees a 6-3 lead, his teammates gave him the silent treatment.
Then came the perfect homerun moment.
When the team finally celebrated with enthusiastic pats on the back, Aaron Judge reached over with a long arm and messed up Frazier’s red hair, making it look more wild than it ever did in spring training when that hair caused so much controversy.
Frazier described his first night in the majors as “very eventful.” Was it ever.
“It was probably the best taste of baseball I’ve ever had,’’ Frazier said. “The Astros played a good game, we played a good game. It’s disappointing to lose, but we got tomorrow, and I’m just glad I got to be a part of this game.”
Up goes Frazier and on this night, making the jump from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes- Barre to right field, Frazier gave Yankee fans another reason to smile, thinking about the future because they sure don’t want to think about Betances’ now.
When Frazier lined the home run into the left-field corner, he rounded the bases and thought: “What happened? It didn’t sink in until no one was there to give me a highfive in the dugout.”
He said he never could dream of having an opening act like this, despite his brashness.
“I talked to a lot of my friends who had hit home runs in their first game, and I hoped to do the same,” Frazier said. “But I didn’t necessarily think I was going to go out there and do it. I’m really excited that I did.”
Good for him. He has learned much.
“The hair is taken a lot more seriously than I thought,” Frazier said before the game. “I meant no harm by growing it out. I was just under the impression that it was still follow- ing the rules. I needed to get called out to realize that I was the black sheep of the crowd.”
Frazier, though, knows the danger in trying to change too much. When I asked him about that, he offered this answer:
“If I clip my own wings I am not going to be able to play the way I want to,” he said. “As long as I can be myself without being a distraction or cause harm to the clubhouse or the team, I think I’ll be in good shape.”
As for the power of the Yankees uniform, Frazier delivered this gem: “I feel like I have a cape on my back, and I’m just wearing BP pants on right now.”
Later, he put on the cape and his mom cried as he rounded the bases.
“It’s been really emotional the last few days,” Frazier said. “Lots of crying. My parents [Kim and Mark] are my role models, so for me to go out there and have this kind of first game for [my dad], it’s really special for the whole Frazier family. I’m going to give my [first hit] to my mom and my home run to my dad.”
Clint Frazier’s baseball soul will not change.