Clint Frazier made a baserunning blunder that seemed to annoy Aaron Boone in the dugout during the Yankees’ 7-0 win over the Orioles on Wednesday night, but after the game was over and the win was secured, Frazier was able to lighten the mood with a self-deprecating joke fitting of the brutal slump he has been in to start the season.
“I joked with a few guys that I haven’t been out there in a while and was just so excited to get to third,” Frazier said after ripping a leadoff double in the fourth inning, then getting thrown out at third on a grounder to shortstop. “It can’t happen and it’s not going to happen again.”
What Frazier does hope continues to happen is the success he found at the plate on Wednesday, finishing with two hits, both for extra bases, in a much-needed breakout game after starting the season with just seven hits in his first 53 at-bats.
The big source of hope for Frazier came after his double, when he smoked a home run to left when the game was all but decided. It wasn’t the most meaningful in terms of getting the win, but for Frazier, finally getting into the home run column was a massive boost.
“I really needed it,” Frazier said. “So I’m happy to finally be on the board.”
Frazier came into the 2021 season with heightened expectations after posting a .905 OPS in 2020, and was said to be the starting left fielder after years of searching for regular playing time. But Frazier’s playing time quickly dwindled as his slow start continued, striking out 19 times in 19 games while slugging just .170 with one RBI. But Frazier believes he made some necessary changes to his hitting approach and has recently been feeling the benefits, with Wednesday being the first time he was able to see tangible evidence of that progress.
“The biggest thing was I’m trying to use my legs a lot more and putting a lot of emphasis on getting into that back leg,” Frazier explained. “And two, I was trying not to let my hands drop so much. Where my hands start versus where they were finishing the last few weeks, there was a significant drop, and I think that was causing a few things to go wrong. It was something I monitored the last few days, and I feel good about what happened tonight.”
Frazier certainly wasn’t alone in his slow start at the plate, as the bulk of the Yankee lineup came out of the gate struggling in what was a historically bad start to the season.
“It was an experience that I haven’t experienced too often,” Frazier said. “Obviously I came into this season…with expectations. It hasn’t gone for us the way we wanted to, and for us to put together the night we had tonight, it definitely takes the pressure off the team and each person individually when we’re clicking like we are.”
Sure, it was one game against a lowly Orioles team, but for Frazier, that doesn’t matter. In one game, he was able to remember what it was like to stand on second base (even if it was short-lived) and what it’s like to round the bases. For him, it’s not just one game. It’s the product of weeks of changes to try and get his swing right.
“It hasn’t looked pretty the last few weeks, but the last week or so, I felt really close,” Frazier said. “I fouled off a lot of balls, I had a lot of walks there for a short period of time. I felt like I was really close but I didn’t have the success yet as far as putting the ball in play and getting a hit. The way that I turned on that 3-1 fastball, hitting it foul, that was definitely something I haven’t done in a while, and I definitely think the feel that I have at the plate, I’m not gonna let that go anywhere. I’m going to hold onto it as long as I can.”
Follow Ryan Chichester on Twitter: @ryanchichester1
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