The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
No longer dynamic duo
Zimmer, Frazier, once teammates, to meet again as opponents
The next chapter in the intertwined baseball histories of Bradley Zimmer and Clint Frazier will unfold when the Indians host the New York Yankees in a four-game series beginning Aug. 3 at Progressive Field.
Zimmer, 24, is the promising rookie center fielder for the Indians.
Frazier, 22, is the promising rookie left fielder for the New York Yankees.
Now on opposing teams, Zimmer and Frazier not long ago were teammates, fellow first-round draft picks and rising stars in the Indians’ minor-league system.
The Indians selected Frazier with the fifth overall pick in the first round of the 2013 draft out of Loganville (Ga.) High School. At 6-feet and 190 pounds, Frazier was regarded as one of the top power hitters among the highschool position players taken in that draft. He also was said to have great speed, above-average defensive skills and a strong throwing arm.
One year later, with the 21st overall pick in the first round of
the 2014 draft, the Indians selected the 6-foot-5, 220-pound Zimmer out of the University of San Francisco. Billed as more of a line-drive hitter than pure power hitter, Zimmer also was earning praise for his speed, outfield skills and throwing arm.
They first were united as teammates at the tail end of the 2014 season when Zimmer earned a promotion from the short-season Single-A Mahoning Valley Scrappers to the full-season Single-A Lake County Captains.
Frazier had been with the Captains for all but the first month of the season, when he was recovering from a hamstring injury suffered during spring training. He batted .266 with 13 home runs and 50 RBI in 120 games. He played well in center field and was a key contributor to a second-half resurgence by the Captains that earned them a spot in the Midwest League playoffs.
Zimmer, who batted .304 with four home runs and 30 RBI in 45 games at Mahoning Valley, joined the Captains for their last three games of the regular season. The idea was to pair him with Frazier and give both prized prospects their first postseason exposures.
The strategy paid dividends. Frazier and Zimmer both excelled at the plate, on the basepaths and in the field as the Captains won playoff series over the South Bend (Ind.) Silver Hawks and Fort Wayne (Ind.) TinCaps before they were beaten in the MWL championship series by the Kane County (Ill.) Cougars.
During that seven-game playoff run, Frazier played center field while Zimmer was deployed in right field. In the long run, many analysts predicted, Zimmer would move to center field and Frazier would settle in right field. If all went according to plan, they would get to the big leagues on roughly the same timetable and combine with All-Star left fielder Michael Brantley to give the Indians one of the best outfield trios in the big leagues.
That plan was still viable as Zimmer and Frazier rose through the Indians’ minor-league system together with the advanced SingleA Lynchburg (Va.) Hillcats, Double-A Akron RubberDucks and Triple-A Columbus Clippers.
Then came the July 31, 2016 trade-deadline deal that saw the Indians ship Frazier and three other minor-league prospects to the Yankees for ace relief pitcher Andrew Miller.
Miller was a huge piece of the puzzle for the Indians as they made it to the postseason for the first time since 2013 and advanced to the seventh game of the World Series before losing to the Chicago Cubs.
Zimmer made his bigleague debut with the Indians this season on May 16.
Frazier made his bigleague debut with the Yankees on July 1.
Both are playing well on teams with legitimate postseason aspirations.
The eyes of the baseball world will be on Zimmer and Frazier as their teams square off in what could be a playoff preview.