Clint Frazier opened up about his complicated Yankee tenure during an extended appearance on The Short Porch podcast, and vented about some of his frustrations regarding his frequent demotions to Triple-A.
Frazier, who still has nothing but the words “Scranton Railriders forever” in his Twitter bio, seems happy to be with the Cubs, where he hopes he will get a more fair shot at being an everyday major leaguer.
“Scranton, that was when I was sentenced to jail,” Frazier said. “Maybe it was for bad behavior sent to Scranton at times. Certainly it wasn’t because of my hitting in 2019, at .285 with an .875 OPS or whatever. For some reason I stayed there longer, for bad behavior or whatever.”
Frazier was often pulled into the spotlight by his cryptic or unfiltered tweets, but as for his play on the field, injuries and lingering concussion symptoms played a big role in his roller coaster tenure in New York. In 2019, the year Frazier referenced, he was batting .283 with an .843 OPS by mid June, but lingering symptoms from a 2018 concussion was making life difficult in the outfield, and he didn’t return to the Yankees, despite the team posting record numbers in terms of IL placements, until rosters expanded on Sept. 1.
“I don’t know, bro. I really don’t,” Frazier said. “I could say in 2019, I was an abomination at one point in the outfield…it was really hard…I knew in 2019, that would be the reason why they said I needed to go down, regardless if that was why, that was going to be why. That one took awhile for me to get over, because I never came back.”
Frazier put up his best numbers in the pandemic shortened 2020 season, but his playing time still dwindled in the postseason, and it appeared he would finally get his chance as a starter in 2021, as Aaron Boone publicly stated that Frazier would be the Opening Day left fielder. But Frazier said no such conversations were ever told to him directly.
“Nobody ever told me to my face that I was the starting left fielder going into 2021,” Frazier said. “I was still leaving camp thinking ‘We’ll see,’ because I didn’t have a good spring training. I go into the season, start the first few games, and a couple games into it, I’m already platooning with [Brett Gardner]. No one ever told me I was the starter.”
Frazier, who will be back at Yankee Stadium when the Cubs visit in June, said there will be “a lot of conversations” had with some within the organization regarding his time in New York, as well as “things that were said” after his release that he said were damaging to his career and made it hard to sign with another team. But Brian Cashman won’t be among them, as Frazier only had good things to say about the general manager.
“Cash and I, it felt like we were boys,” Frazier said. “The text messages that him and I would exchange with each other, the way we would talk to each other…I’d say we were as much friends as we were allowed to be. He had my back all the time. He was never one of the ones, regardless if he was the one that ultimately signed off on me going to Triple-A or how much playing time I got, I never felt any type of way towards him, because he was always very honest with me.
“He was great to me. I’ve got nothing but respect for that guy, because he’s cool as hell.”
Frazier described his relationship with manager Aaron Boone as “cordial,” and had no bad things to say about his former teammates. But he did tweet that he was relieved to no longer be on the Yankees, and the fallout of his signing with the Cubs has caused a large amount of disdain from the Yankee fanbase. So, when Frazier returns in June, he doesn’t expect to hear any love from the Bronx crowd.
“I do not expect a warm welcome,” Frazier said. “And nor do I care. I don’t really care.”
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