This past season the New York Yankees saw the rebirth of Clint Frazier. The Yankees have always liked Frazier, but Frazier was his worst own enemy for the first few years of his career. It wasn’t because he couldn’t hit; the Yankees marveled at his quick bat and ability to hit for contact and power. But since 2017, “Red or Red Thunder,” as he is nicknamed, has failed in the outfield and showed that he was too immature to be in the bigs, causing him to ride the Scranton shuttle far too often.
For whatever reason (possibly his girlfriend), a new and completely changed Clint Frazier showed up at spring training for the New York Yankees. The first thing everyone noticed was that Frazier was wearing a mask, the only Yankee to do so on the playing field because of the coronavirus. When asked why he stated that it was to protect his fellow players, Yankee fans saw a new Clint Frazier from that point on. After struggling for several years in the outfield, he began to show stardom with his fieldwork, so much so he actually ended on the Gold Glove finalist list.
When interviewed by Meredith Marakovits last night on the Yankees Hot Stove, I found it interesting that he indicated that in previous years he was having trouble in the outfield with his eyes, depth perception, right down to the brightness of the sun. He was basically having trouble with his eyes. It didn’t appear he was making excuses because he didn’t even mention his play in the field; it was more just letting fans he was having eye problems. When asked about how he was feeling going into a new season, he had this to say:
“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.’’
When Marakovits asked what he was doing in the offseason, he stated that he and his girlfriend that he lives with are completely remodeling the home they live in. He said the house has good bones but needed a complete gut. Meredith asked if he was doing any of the work himself. He said he had a contractor, but he re-did the entire basement and turned it into a baseball sneaker display room.
After performing well in the two early camps, Frazier found himself back at the alternate site after just two regular-season games. But when he came back up the Stadium on August 12th, the first thing Frazier did was to hit a home run. He made flying catches that reached the internet. Because of his great play manager, Aaron Boone made him a permanent player in the lineup. He ended the season hitting .267 (35-for-131) with eight homers, 26 RBIs, and a .905 OPS. He played in four games in the postseason; he went 2-7 with a homer and an RBI.
Now Frazier’s challenge is to show he belongs in the big leagues permanently with the New York Yankees.