Pittsburgh Pirates Prospect: Four Potential Triple-A Promotions by Season’s End

Outfielder Matthew Fraizer

Matthew Frazier is currently at High-A Greensboro, so he’s a bit more of a long shot than some of the other names I’ve already talked about. But once you take into account how well he is doing and his age, it’s quite possible he gets at least a taste of playing time at Indianapolis.

To say that Fraizer has done well at Greensboro would be an understatement. So far through 236 plate appearances, the lefty outfielder has a .324/.396/.573 batting line, 13 home runs, and 10 doubles in 236 plate appearances. All told, he has a wOBA above .400 at .418 and wRC+ above 150 at 161. Frazier has walked at a strong 10.8% rate but has avoided strikeouts as well. He has only gone down on strike three 18.7% of the time. Having a sub-20% strikeout rate and walk rate above 10% is a good indicator of good plate discipline.

Fraizer has never been a highly regarded prospect, at least to the degree of MacGregor ever was, or like Canaan Smith-Njigba is. But he’s hitting for power, something he never did in college or during his debut season in 2019. Through 496 plate appearances dating back to 2016 up through 2019, he never had a home run while only walking 6.5% of the time.

Currently, Fraizer has an isolated slugging percentage approaching .250 and is on pace for over 30 home runs across 600 plate appearances. He’s yet to play a game at Double-A, but his massive improvements when it comes to plate discipline and power should translate well when he is promoted. If he can keep it up, he should at least get a shot at Triple-A pitching late in 2021.