Stage left
Frazier aims to ‘hold it down’ at position where few have of late
Promises to players aren’t made by smart GMs and managers in December. However, it would be naïve to think that, whenever the 2021 season starts, Clint Frazier won’t be entrusted with the biggest role of his up-and-down bigleague career. That would be the 26year-old right-handed hitter getting a lot of playing time in left field and occasionally spelling Aaron Judge in right.
While 2020 provided a lot of difficult ways to evaluate individual performances, the COVID-19 season wasn’t a 20-game schedule. Nor was it a 162-game gig. Sixty games, which is what the season was, is roughly equivalent to April and May in normal times.
Yet, what Frazier did in 39 games after being dropped from the big-league roster to the alternate site after two games, to make room for needed relievers, certainly reinforced what the Yankees believed he was since getting him from the Indians in the July 2016 deal that sent reliever Andrew Miller to Cleveland.
In the first 10 games after being recalled from the alternate site in Scranton/ Wilkes-Barre, Frazier hit .344 (11-for-32) with three homers, 11 RBIs and a 1.182 OPS. Frazier finished the season hitting .267 (35-for131) with eight homers, 26 RBIs and a .905 OPS.
Frazier appeared in four of the Yankees’ seven postseason games (two starts) and went 2-for-7 with a homer and an RBI.
Now comes the harder part for Frazier: produce and stick in the big leagues.
When spring training opens, Frazier will be coming off a winter with a changed mindset.
“It’s a little different because I feel really good about my position going forward. At the end of the day, left field has been a few different people’s position the last few years,’’ Frazier said on YES’ “Hot Stove” program Monday night. “One week, it was [Brett Gardner], one week it was [Mike] Tauchman, one week it was me, and it was supposed to be [Giancarlo] Stanton when he [was acquired]. There are a lot of people who haven’t held it down, and I am hoping I am going to be able to hold it down. Obviously, Gardy played it 10-plus years, but I am talking recently. He played more in the playoffs than I did, and it was all based on performance. I know performance does matter. I am going to have to go into spring training and have a good spring training and, obviously, have a good season to continue to secure those reps.’’
Additionally, Frazier improved defensively in right and left field and was a finalist for an AL Gold Glove.
Asked what stood out for him in the 2020 season, Frazier went right for the defensive improvement.
“I would say the defense because of where it went from the year before,’’ Frazier said. “The defense was surprising to a lot of people, which was cool to see.’’
Frazier’s emergence as a player who has earned a chance at increased playing time doesn’t mean Aaron Boone will use him every game. Tauchman returns for his third season in The Bronx, and Gardner is a candidate to re-sign as a free agent. The left-handed hitting outfielders would provide Boone the opportunity to use one of them to take a tough right-hander off Frazier’s plate.