Frazier up, but may not be for long
WASHINGTON — Clint Frazier is back with the Yankees, but it may not be for long.
The Yankees recalled the outfielder from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on Tuesday, mostly to serve as an extra bat during their twogame interleague series against the Nationals.
“The National League ballpark requires some more positional choices that [Aaron Boone] will be navigating,” general manager Brian Cashman said before Tuesday’s series opener was postponed by rain in the sixth inning with the game tied 3-3. “We don’t want to get stuck with a pitcher hitting in a key spot in the middle or later in the game.”
Asked if Frazier’s stint in the majors could last beyond these two games, Cashman said: “I think we’ll just see how we get through this interleague. We’ve gone all year with extra pitching to protect our starters. I think that’s probably in our best interest, so it could be a shortterm situation. But we’ll see. Every day something can affect the decision-making.”
Right-handed pitcher David Hale was designated for assignment to make room for Frazier, leaving 12 pitchers on the active roster.
Regardless of his role, Frazier was just pleased to be back in the majors.
Frazier, who did not appear in Tuesday’s game before the rain came, was sidelined with concussion-related symptoms for much of spring training and the early part of the season, but since joining Scranton/WilkesBarre, Frazier has been very productive.
“I think I’m more excited to play my first game back than I was to debut last year,’’ Frazier said of his return from the head injury he suffered colliding with a wall in a spring training game. “It was a lot harder to come back from that than it was to make it to the big leagues.’’
In a dozen games at Triple-A, Frazier was 17-for-47 with three doubles, two triples and three homers for an OPS of 1.125. The one red flag is his 15 strikeouts, though he fanned just three times in his last five games.
“He can hit and he’s swinging the bat really well right now,’’ Boone said of Frazier. “We just like where he’s at right now. He’s hitting the ball with a lot of authority. We feel like he gives us a really good option coming off the bench.”
Boone added that Aaron Hicks and Brett Gardner would likely continue to start in center — and that Frazier needs to play regularly.
“We’ll see where we are in the next couple of days and weigh our options,” Boone said. “With a guy like Clint, he has such a bright future for us, it’s something where we have to feel he’s really filling a need for us or able to get enough playing time for us to make sense. … He’s absolutely got to play [regularly].”
Frazier appeared in 39 games with the Yankees last season. In his first 11 games, he had eight extra-base hits, eight RBIs and an OPS of 1.035. He quickly cooled off and in his final 24 games, he went just 14-for-78 with seven extra-base hits. He struck out 28 times in that stretch and had a .559 OPS.
Then his spring was cut short by the concussion, something Frazier called a “life-changing moment.”
“It’s not just baseball,” Frazier said of the injury. “It’s tough to battle back because I didn’t know where the finish line was gonna be. There were days where I woke up and said, ‘Is it gonna end or is it not?’ I finally got over the hump and started playing and I’m ready to come back.”