The New York Yankees acquired OF Clint Frazier in a trade with the Cleveland Indians. What sort of player is he?
Who Is He?
Frazier was the 5th overall selection in the 2013 draft out of high school in Georgia by the Cleveland Indians. The Indians sent him to their Arizona Rookie League team, and Frazier hit well, going .297/.362/.506, hitting 5 home runs and 5 triples with 3 stolen bases. His solid start got the eye of people in the prospecting business, as he was the #48 prospect according to Baseball America and MLB.com, and Baseball Prospectus had him all the way up to #36.
In 2014, the Indians sent Frazier to full-season A-ball with Lake County in the Midwest League. He played solid ball there, slashing .266/.349/.411 with 13 homers and 12 steals, though many were concerned by his 161 strikeouts in 542 plate appearances. This caused Baseball America to drop Frazier completely off of their top 100, while MLB.com dropped him to #53 and Baseball Prospectus dropped him to #89 overall.
Frazier continued on his one-level-per-year progression in 2015, playing with high-A Lynchburg in the Carolina League. He made big strides in his K rate, and his slash line was much more impressive as he went .285/.377/.465 with 16 home runs and 15 steals along with 36 doubles. He was sent to the Arizona Fall League and continued playing at a similar pace, going .281/.347/.438 with 3 home runs and 4 stolen bases in 22 games. He ended up turning prospect heads again, moving back to #44 on the Baseball America list, #27 on MLB.com’s list, and #53 on Baseball Prospectus’s list.
Frazier moved up to AA Akron in the Eastern League to start 2016, and he was beating up the Eastern League before he was traded from Cleveland to New York as part of the Andrew Miller deal. Overall on the season thus far, he’s hit .276/.356/.469 with 14 homers, 13 stolen bases and 26 doubles. At midseason, he was ranked #22 by MLB.com, #21 by Baseball America, and #26 by Baseball Prospectus.
Next: Frazier's scouting report