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Chicago White Sox: Todd Frazier hits for power, not average

By Stacey Gotsulias

May 9, 2016; Arlington, TX, USA; Chicago White Sox third baseman Todd Frazier (21) hits a grand slam against the Texas Rangers during the twelfth inning at Globe Life Park in Arlington. The White Sox defeat the Rangers 8-4 in 12 innings. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports
May 9, 2016; Arlington, TX, USA; Chicago White Sox third baseman Todd Frazier (21) hits a grand slam against the Texas Rangers during the twelfth inning at Globe Life Park in Arlington. The White Sox defeat the Rangers 8-4 in 12 innings. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports /
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Todd Frazier is hitting a lot of home runs for the Chicago White Sox, but his batting average and BABIP are at career lows.

A week after a trade between the Cincinnati Reds and the Los Angeles Dodgers, which would have sent Aroldis Chapman to the Dodgers for a couple of prospects, hit a snag, the two teams were part of a three-team deal with the Chicago White Sox which sent Reds third baseman Todd Frazier to Chicago. With that trade, the White Sox were expecting to have the power duo of Jose Abreu and Frazier to shore up the middle of the lineup, and while Frazier is hitting with power—he has 19 home runs in the team’s first 63 games—he is not hitting the ball with any regularity at the plate.

Thus far this season, Frazier is batting .206/.301/.466, has 49 hits overall—19 home runs and five doubles—and has 58 strikeouts. Historically, Frazier is a .252/.319/.464 hitter in six seasons in the majors, so his on-base percentage and slugging percentage are close to his career numbers, but the batting average is very low compared to how he usually performs.

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If we look at his most recent performances, Frazier has been in a funk for nearly a month now, with his last two weeks or so being especially bad. In his last 15 games, Frazier is batting .119/.212/.322 with three hits, one home run, three RBI, three walks and 11 strikeouts. He’s not performing well for his new home crowd either. In 31 games at the Cell, Frazier is hitting .193/.298/.421. He does have eight home runs at home, but he only has 22 total hits so when he’s not hitting for power, he’s not doing much else.

So what is happening with Frazier at the plate so far this season? He is swinging at a lot of pitches in zone, which isn’t always a bad thing, and isn’t unusual for him. Plus, you’d rather a batter swing at pitches in the zone than flailing at bad pitches out of the zone.

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Frazier is also hitting a lot of pop ups (purple dots) and ground balls (green dots). The pop ups seem to be occurring mostly on hard pitches like four seamers, sinkers and splitters while the ground balls have been on a mix of hard and breaking pitches.

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And while Frazier doesn’t get a lot of soft pitches thrown to him, he tends to miss those more low and away when he does see them. Out of his 19 home runs this season, only two have been off breaking balls.

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Frazier also seems to be missing the harder stuff up in the zone and even out of zone, though the numbers themselves aren’t outlandishly high.

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His overall whiff percentage on off-speed pitches was steady in April and May, hovering around 28 percent, but has dropped to 21 percent in June. His whiff percentage on breaking pitches steadily increased from six percent in April to eight percent in May, then jumped up to 15 percent in June. And finally, his whiff percentage on hard pitches has remained fairly steady starting at 13 percent in April and hovering around 12 percent in May and June.

Frazier also has a .185 BABIP so far in 2016 which is well below his career average. It hovered around .300 the entire time he was in the minors and was never lower than .269—once he was an MLB regular—until this season, so it would seem that Frazier’s just been unlucky at the plate as well.

Next: Jose Abreu Ready to Break Out Soon

It’s possible that Frazier is still getting used to being on a new team, and to playing in a new league, and he will need more time to adjust. It is, after all, only mid-June, and his bat could heat up during the warm days of summer. Or perhaps Frazier is caving under the pressure of being one of the guys who is expected to carry a lot of the load for Chicago’s starting lineup.  It is definitely something to keep an eye on as the days heat up.

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