Adam Frazier Is Getting Overexposed

During the past month plus, Pittsburgh Pirate utility man Adam Frazier has started to get overexposed at the plate

Former Pirate manager Jim Leyland used to say some players are bench players who need to have their at-bats limited. His reasoning behind this was that if these players were made into everyday starters they would become overexposed to the league and start to struggle. This is exactly what is currently happening with Adam Frazier.

When Starling Marte was suspended on April 18th, Adam Frazier became an everyday player. At first, Frazier was swinging a hot bat and looking like one of the team’s best hitters. However, over the course of the past month plus this has started to change.

The success Adam Frazier had early in the season was never going to be even remotely sustainable. As was discussed here, he was hitting too many groundballs and his launch angle was extremely poor. These issues have started to catch up with Frazier over the course of his past 123 plate appearances.

Through his first 107 plate appearances, this season Adam Frazier benefitted from an insanely high .416 BABIP. Since league average BABIP is .300, this alone should have been a huge red flag for anyone. Now that his BABIP has begun to regress to the norm, it is now .312, his results have started to suffer.

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Over the course of his last 123 plate appearances Adam Frazier has struggled immensely. During this stretch, Frazier owns a .260 on-base percentage, .301 slugging percentage, .247 wOBA, and a wRC+ of 50. All of these numbers are horrible.

To be honest, it is a bit of a surprise that the Pirate offense has been so successful the past month plus. Adam Frazier has hit leadoff for them during this time while being a very easy out. A struggling leadoff man can help to sink a National League lineup. Not only does this greatly lessen a team’s chances of scoring in the first inning, but as the game progresses they essentially have back-to-back guaranteed outs in the pitcher’s spot and the struggling leadoff man.

Due to him being overexposed, the National League has learned how to pitch to Adam Frazier. During his struggles, Frazier has continued to hit far too many groundballs owning a 53.1 percent groundball rate. Furthermore, his 27.8 percent hard contact rate is simply too low (league average hard contact rate is 30 percent).

Frazier has also been swinging at too many pitches outside of the strike zone. His 32.6 percent 0-swing rate, which measures the amount of pitches outside of the strike zone a hitter swings at, is higher than the league average 30 percent. His walk rate during this time is also just 5.7 percent, which is much lower than the 12.1 percent walk rate he had his so as his first 107 plate appearances this season. He has also watched his strikeout rate rise from 12.1 percent to 13.8 percent.

Adam Frazier is not as patient or selective a hitter as he appeared to be early in the season. As he has become overexposed, this has become more clear and opposing pitching staffs are starting to take advantage of it.

If Adam Frazier is going to play everyday, he has to hit. This is due to him being a very poor defender both in the outfield and at second base. Due to this, he does not bring any value to the team defensively.

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Being forced to play everyday has exposed all of Frazier’s weaknesses and shortcomings as a hitter to the rest of the league. This has allowed the league to adjust accordingly. As they have adjusted, Frazier has begun to struggle immensely. Honestly, if Frazier is going to continue to play every day, personally I would be getting Jose Osuna starts in left field, he can not continue to bat leadoff.

Adam Frazier is a very average hitter and is best served in a bench role. When Starling Marte returns in a few weeks, Frazier will return to that bench role. This will benefit both Frazier and the Pirates. Right now, Adam Fraizer is getting overexposed and his results at the plate have suffered due to this.

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