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Pittsburgh Pirates: DFA’d Outfielder Who Double be of Help

By Noah Wright

NEW YORK, NY - JUNE 6: Clint Frazier #77 of the New York Yankees runs to the dugout against the Boston Red Sox during the tenth inning at Yankee Stadium on June 6, 2021 in the Bronx borough of New York City. The Red Sox won 6-5. (Photo by Adam Hunger/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY - JUNE 6: Clint Frazier #77 of the New York Yankees runs to the dugout against the Boston Red Sox during the tenth inning at Yankee Stadium on June 6, 2021 in the Bronx borough of New York City. The Red Sox won 6-5. (Photo by Adam Hunger/Getty Images) /
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The Pittsburgh Pirates could acquire a potential outfield upgrade by nabbing Clint Frazier after he was designated for assignment by the New York Yankees

One of the areas of concern going into the 2022 season for the Pittsburgh Pirates right now is the outfield. While Bryan Reynolds has one of the three spots on lockdown, Ben Gamel and Anthony Alford taking up the other two spots isn’t the most awe-inspiring corner outfield options. But with the deadline to finalize 40-man rosters, the New York Yankees designated a player for assignment who could be an easy upgrade for one of the corner spots. That player happened to be Clint Frazier.

Clint Frazier was once one of MLB’s premier prospects. He was a consensus top 50 prospect back in the late-2010’s with the Cleveland Indians. He, along with top pitching prospect Justus Sheffield and two other pitching prospects, was sent to the New York Yankees for relief ace Andrew Miller.

Despite his prospect status, the Yankees never seemed to give Frazier a shot to secure regular playing time for himself. Now granted, he has had his fair share of injured list visits, but he’s yet to play 100 games in a season and when the Yankees have had opportunities to give him a chance, they haven’t taken advantage of it. Now with a full outfield, the historic team decided it was time to move on from the former prospect.

Frazier might come with some risk, but the upside is there. Outside of his prospect status, the outfielder was quite a good hitter in 2019-2020. In only 406 plate appearances, Frazier batted for a quality .267/.347/.497 line, .355 wOBA, and 124 wRC+. Plus he hit 20 home runs in that short amount of time, as well as posting a .230 isolated slugging percentage. He did strike out at a 28.1% clip, but that also came with a solid 10.8% walk rate.

Now aside from strikeouts, Frazier also isn’t a great fielder. Throughout his career, he has -20 DRS, a -13.5 UZR/150, and -8.1 range runs above average. This has led to just a 1.5 fWAR in 2019-2020. This past season, he hit for a poor .186/.317/.317 line. He was still walking at a strong 14.7% rate, but his ISO fell all the way to .136. All told, his wRC+ was just 83.

Now there is some reason to think he could bounce back. For one, he had an xwOBA of .313, which is considered league average. His actual wOBA was .289, a fair step back from his expected mark. He also had just a .257 batting average on balls in play. His career mark is .313 and had a .332 BABIP between 2019-2020.

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Even if Frazier repeats his career numbers, which is still a solid .239/.327/.434 line, .326 wOBA, and 106 wRC+, he’d be a solid contributor for the Pirates. He may never be a great fielder, but he would give them some pop. He has a .195 career ISO and averages about 21 home runs per 600 plate appearances. The Pirates could also utilize him at DH now and then to preserve his health and hide his glove. If the Pirates have the opportunity to nab Frazier, they should take advantage of it.

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