New York Yankees: Can Clint Frazier finally break the starting team in 2020?

After a defensive deterioration in 2019, New York Yankees outfielder Clint Frazier made it his mission to rebound in 2020. An opportunity has presented itself for Frazier in the outfield moving forward, as Aaron Hicks will miss half the season and Giancarlo Stanton will rotate out of defensive duties.

Realistically, the position battle we should be talking about is Frazier Vs. Miguel Andujar, who’s vying for a spot in left field as Stanton’s alternate. If “Red Thunder” can show offensive consistency during Grapefruit League play, he could earn the secondary position in left field, acting as a rotating option with Stanton to mitigate injury concern.

The New York Yankees saw Frazier overcome a fear:

On Saturday, the Yankees played the Toronto Blue Jays, falling 2-1 on the back of a poor offensive performance. When Frazier was called upon to safely guide a fly ball into his mitt, one thought ran through his mind, “This is not how it begins.”

Fortunately, Frazier plucked the ball out of the clear blue sky, starting off his pre-season on a positive note.

“The offseason was much needed,” Frazier said. “Everyone tries to get through things on a daily basis, but it’s a little harder to get through whenever it’s in front of 50,000 fans and then the millions that are watching away from the field. It was tough. Obviously, there was no secret as to what I needed to work on. I felt like my back was against the wall in the offseason. I had to fight to come into camp and prove myself, and I feel good. I’m ready to fight.”

Frazier has a point, the stress of facing millions of people and their criticism is not an easy task, and at some points, he crumbled under the pressure. However, he learned from the experience and has bounced back positively. Practicing hard was the first step; the second was translating it to live-action, and this was his chance to show his improvement. Hopefully, he can continue to build on his first game back in Pinstripes.

“Things have been going great in practice, but practice is practice,” Frazier said. “I was ready to see how I felt in the game. It’s probably more about the defense than the offense, and for the most part, I felt good out there. I caught all three balls, so that’s all you can really build off.”