New York Post, Tuesday, December 1, 2020nypost.comTALKIN’ABOUT
PRACTICE:Three-week
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openonTuesdayand
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James(farleft)—ifhe
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pickAnthonyEdwards
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Williamson.GettyImages(4)THE LEAGUE
By GEORGE A. KING IIIPromises to players aren’t
made by smart GMs and
managers in December.
However, it would be
naïve to think that,
whenever the 2021
season starts, Clint
Frazier won’t be
entrusted with the
biggest role of his
up-and-down big-
league career.
That would be the 26-
year-old right-handed
hitter getting a lot of play-
ing time in left field and oc-
casionally spelling Aaron
Judge in right.
While 2020 provided a lot
of difficult ways to evaluate
individual performances,
the COVID-19 season
wasn’t a 20-game schedule.
Nor was it a 162-game gig.
Sixty games, which is what
the season was, is roughly
equivalent to April and May
in normal times.
Yet, what Frazier did in 39
games after being dropped
from the big-league roster
to the alternate site after
two games, to make room
for needed relievers, cer-
tainly reinforced what the
Yankees believed he was
since getting him from the
Indians in the July 2016 deal
that sent reliever Andrew
Miller to Cleveland.
In the first 10 games after
being recalled from the al-
ternate site in Scranton/
Wilkes-Barre, Frazier hit
.344 (11-for-32) with three
homers, 11 RBIs and a 1.182
OPS. Frazier finished the
season hitting .267 (35-for-
131) with eight homers, 26
RBIs and a .905 OPS.
Frazier appeared in four
of the Yankees’ seven post-
season games (two starts)
and went 2-for-7 with a ho-
mer and an RBI.
Now comes the harder
part for Frazier: produce
and stick in the big leagues.
When spring training
opens, Frazier will be com-
ing off a winter with a
changed mindset.
“It’s a little different be-
cause I feel really good
about my position going for-
ward. At the end of the day,
left field has been a few dif-ferent people’s position the
last few years,’’ Frazier said
on YES’ “Hot Stove” pro-
gram 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 hop-
ing I am going to be able to
hold it down. Obviously,
Gardy played it 10-plus
years, but I am talking re-
cently. He played more in
the playoffs than I did, and it
was all based on perform-
ance. I know performance
does matter. I am going to
have to go into spring train-
ing and have a good spring
training and, obviously, have
a good season to continue to
secure those reps.’’
Additionally, Frazier im-
proved defensively in rightand left field and was a fi-
nalist for an AL Gold Glove.
Asked what stood out for
him in the 2020 season, Fra-
zier went right for the de-
fensive improvement.
“I would say the defense
because of where it went
from the year before,’’ Fra-
zier said. “The defense was
surprising to a lot of people,
which was cool to see.’’
Frazier’s emergence as a
player who has earned a
chance at increased playing
time doesn’t mean Aaron
Boone will use him every
game. Tauchman returns
for his third season in The
Bronx, and Gardner is a
candidate to re-sign as a
free agent. The left-handed
hitting outfielders would
provide Boone the opportu-
nity to use one of them to
take a tough right-hander
off Frazier’s plate.
[email protected]Stage left
Frazier aims to ‘hold it down’ at
position where few have of late
red-y to work: Clint Frazier, speaking Monday night
on YES’ “Hot Stove,” said he wants to perform well enough
to “secure those reps” in left field for the Yankees. Corey Sipkin