Yankees: What’s going on with Clint Frazier?

It’s May 17. Some players have busted out of their April slumps. Some are starting to turn it around. Others are … stuck.

New York Yankees outfielder Clint Frazier is one of them. And he’s starting to run out of excuses.

It’s one thing when the entire team is in the gutter and the energy/poor play consumes everyone. But that hasn’t been the case for weeks now.

And somehow, Frazier is still slashing just .151/.280/.302.

What’s even worse? Most of his peripheral statistics aren’t good. His expected batting average (15th percentile), expected weighted on-base percentage (37th percentile), expected slugging percentage (28th percentile), and exit velocity (bottom 3% of the league) are well below average. We can go on. BABIP (.179). ISO (.155). Bad. Bad.

His saving grace is his walk percentage (14.8%, which is in the top 8% of the league), but that isn’t his claim to fame. His lightning quick bat speed is … and the lumber isn’t leaving his shoulder.

What’s going on with Yankees outfielder Clint Frazier?

During Monday night’s loss to the Rangers, Frazier once again looked at strike three down the pipe. Twice. Two fastballs. At this point, the opposing pitching staff has to have a scouting report that says “just throw it over the middle.”

He’s swinging just 37.5% of the time while seeing 40.5% of pitches in the strike zone. Sure, he’s swinging at fewer pitches outside of the zone, but he’s swinging at fewer pitches inside the zone, too. Perhaps these issues were beginning to crop up last year, too, because the trends are similar after his 69-game stint in 2019.

But the problem with the trends? Frazier hasn’t given us a big enough sample size to really judge him upon. All we have is 198 career games to base the stats off of and they’re all scattered over the past five seasons — 39 games, 15 games, 69 games, 39 games and 36 games.

How can we possibly draw any definitive conclusions from that? Do we really know Frazier isn’t a passive hitter, especially when he’s not surrounded by premier talent? How many times have we seen young players hit MLB, make a good first impression, and then flame out?

We’re not saying that’s the case with Frazier, but perhaps his tendency to deliver electrifying moments here and there over the last couple of seasons have led us to place unfair expectations on him or overhype his abilities.

The Yankees need “more” from just about everybody. That’s the problem. And when that’s the case, it looks even worse when someone like Frazier is seemingly struggling with the rudimentary aspects of the game. He’s not swinging the bat. He’s still a below-average and very much not a heads-up defender (-5 DRS) despite the highlight-reel catches he’s made this year. He’s lost on the base paths more than you’d like to see.

So, we’ll ask once again: what’s going on with Clint Frazier?

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