The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Yanks activate Frazier
WASHINGTON — It appears Clint Frazier is going to get a chance.
How long it lasts is the question.
The 23-year-old outfielder arrived in Washington on Monday and was activated for the Yankees’ game against the Nationals Tuesday night.
The Yankees designated right-handed reliever David Hale for assignment to make room for Frazier.
All indications are the Yankees’ four outfielders — Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, Brett Gardner and Aaron Hicks — are healthy, but with the Yankees about to play two games without the designated hitter, elevating Frazier would give manager Aaron Boone a right-handed pinch-hitting option.
Frazier missed most of the spring and the start of the regular season because of a concussion suffered Feb. 24. But he’s been on fire since being returned from the disabled list May 2, entering Monday in a 17-for-43 stretch with three homers, three doubles and two triples for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
“Anything that he does at that level’s not going to surprise me because he is an extremely talented, high-ceiling player and obviously with a great deal of motivation to be an impact player,” general manager Brian Cashman said
by phone Monday. “It’s good to see him playing up to his capabilities.”
Frazier had an impressive big-league debut on July 1 in Houston, doubling in his second career at-bat and homering in his third. That began a 20-game stretch in which he produced an .860 OPS and showed some of what Cashman described as “legendary bat speed.” But Frazier went into a 5-for-33 skid before landing on the disabled list with a left oblique strain.
He had a mostly quiet finish to the 2017 season, but came into the spring
determined to make the Yankees’ decision a difficult one regarding their outfield, even with the above-mentioned quartet well ahead of him on the depth chart.
“I’m here to win a spot,” Frazier said early in camp. “That’s going to be the same answer I give from here on out. In my head, I’m breaking with the team. That’s the goal and that’s the vision I have for myself.”
That goal was shortcircuited by the concussion, but another opportunity seems to be in the offing.