After a long, fruitful career in which he was once one of the top power-hitting third basemen in the league, former New York Yankees and Mets infielder Todd Frazier announced that he is retiring from professional baseball.
The former Rutgers star played for 11 years in Major League Baseball. The news was announced by the New York Post.
“It’s been my love my whole life,” Frazier said Monday in a phone interview. “It’s very hard to let go. Don’t get me wrong, it’s one of the toughest decisions I’ve ever made in my life. But where I’m at in my career and where I’m at in my life, I think it was the right decision. I think it’s time to be that family figure that I’ve always wanted to be.”
Frazier came to the Yankees in 2017 and was an important piece in their postseason run that ended in the Championship Series defeat against the Houston Astros.
Yankees and Mets fans have fond memories of Frazier
With the Yankees, he slashed .222/.365/.423 with a 115 wRC+, solidly above-average production. He hit 11 home runs in 66 games.
Then he signed with the Mets in 2018 and stayed there until after the 2019 season, hitting 39 home runs in two years.
Last year, he played with the Pittsburgh Pirates, but didn’t perform well. He also won a Silver medal for Team USA in the Tokyo Olympics.
Frazier’s best years came with the Cincinnati Reds: he had 4.5 and 4.3-WAR seasons with them in 2014 and 2015.
Yankees and Mets fans have fond memories of Frazier.
“When I got traded to the Yankees, I was like, ‘Holy cow, this is unbelievable.’ … The next year, getting picked up in free agency by the Mets. Every time I go to my batting cage, I look at those two jerseys and it’s really cool,” Frazier told the Post. “I know a bunch of people have done it, but being from Jersey, some of your friends hate you at the time, then they love you because you’re with the Mets. So it made for good banter. It was awesome. I wish I could have stopped time during those years.”
He is retiring as a two-time All-Star with a .241 average and 218 home runs in 1,244 games.