Pittsburgh Pirates: The Three Gifts That Will Keep on Giving in 2019

Adam Frazier has been a super utility player for basically his whole Pittsburgh Pirates career.  The former sixth round pick out of Mississippi State made his big league début in 2016 and has filled in all over the field when needed.  While his fielding has always been suspect, one thing he has proven is his ability to just flat out hit.

Last year, Frazier had his biggest struggle of his short career, which eventually led to a demotion to Triple-A.  Through March and April, he had a batting average of .250 and an OBP of .289.  Then May did not get much better, as he hit just above the Mendoza Line at .212.  So finally, in June, the Pittsburgh Pirates sent Frazier down for maintenance.

That is when everything turned around.  Apparently, Frazier’s dad noticed that he was not holding his hands at where he has in the past.  Of course, Frazier’s dad let him know about it and the former utility player was quickly back on the Pittsburgh Pirates roster.  It could not have come at a better time, as he added a big spark to a struggling team.

Frazier ended up being pretty productive over the rest of the season.  After batting just .234 through the first two months, Frazier never batted under .260 the rest of the way out.  This included an amazing August when he batted .338.  He finished the season with a slash line of .277/.342/.456 with 10 home runs and accumulated WAR of 1.9. He also showed improvement at second base accounting for 4.0 defensive runs saved and a 5.0 UZR/150.

Next year he will be the team’s opening day second baseman and he should be a significant improvement over the often inconsistent Josh Harrison.  While he may not be the defender Harrison was, he should be a vast improvement at the plate.