Following some self-pressure, New York Yankees top prospect Clint Frazier is ready to put it all behind him and reach his high ceiling.
On Tuesday, the New York Yankees‘ Winter Warm-Up featured the highly touted Clint Frazier discussing the trade that sucked the 22-year old into the spotlight.Frazier, who was acquired by New York on last year’s trade deadline, felt as though the anticipation of being worth an All-Star closer like Andrew Miller — the man Brian Cashman parted with — was a little too much.
“I went from trying to fill Clint Frazier’s shoes to trying to fill Andrew Miller’s shoes,” he told “And the guy did what he did because he’s one of the best pitchers in the game. To try to live up to the amount of hype that he had because I was traded for him was hard.”
Before being shipped to the Yankees’ organization, Frazier ripped 13 home runs in 89 games for Double-A Akron (Cleveland Indians), while maintaining an overall slash line of .276/.356/.469.
In Class-A Carolina a season prior, the kid led the league hits (143), doubles (36) and total bases (233) before slashing .281/.347/.438 with three home runs and four stolen bases in 22 games at the Arizona Fall League.
Unfortunately for him, however, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre didn’t treat him with the same kindness that the Akron, Carolina or the desert did.
In 25 games in the Electric City, Frazier slashed an insignificant .228/.335/.447 and struck out in 29.7 percent of his total at-bats with the RailRiders. Now, he’s admitting the struggles were more mental than mechanical.
“For the first time, I thought I was humbled to the maximum tee,” Frazier also told Kuty. “I had to get off cloud nine and realize there were some things I had to work on.”
Throughout the offseason, the young stud has been demonstrating his insane workout regimen along with some unique personality on social media — the latter which could be described as, perhaps, comfortability.
Major League Baseball’s Pipeline suggests that Frazier’s bat speed and raw power are among the best in the Minor Leagues, and boy is it “legendary,” as Brian Cashman likes to put it.
With that said, a spring training invite will likely be heading Frazier’s way in 2017 and depending on how things pan out throughout the regular season, he could be stepping between the lines at Yankee Stadium very shortly.
