Pittsburgh Pirates: Players Who Were Traded At The Right Time

Adam Frazier

Adam Frazier was a stalwart for the Pirates from 2016 through 2022. Through his first five seasons, Frazier was a solid batter, slashing .273/.336/.413 with a .323 wOBA and 99 wRC+. Frazier only had a 7.4% walk rate, but he also had a strong 13.6% strikeout rate. Coupled with quality defense at second base and the outfield, Frazier was a solid member of the Bucs.

Heading into 2021, Frazier wasn’t expected to be anything more or less than a league-average hitter with quality second base defense. But Frazier got off to a scorching hot start leading into the trade deadline. Through his first 428 plate appearances, Frazier was batting .324/.388/.424 with a .363 wOBA and 126 wRC+. Frazier’s walk rate was slightly up to 8.2%, but he had significantly cut his K% down to 10.7%. The only real negative was that his ISO fell to .124.

Frazier was then sent to the Padres for three players, and he significantly regressed down the line. Through his final 211 plate appearances, the second baseman registered just a .267/.327/.335 with a .293 wOBA and 87 wRC+. While Frazier’s 10.9% strikeout rate remained about the same, his walk rate dropped to 6.2%, while his ISO fell well below .100 at .068.

Along with the Padres, Frazier has appeared in games for the Seattle Mariners and Baltimore Orioles, not coming close to the same production he ever had with the Pirates. The utility man has batted a dismal .244/.305/.345 with a .287 wOBA and 86 wRC+. Frazier was never known as a power hitter, but a .101 isolated slugging percentage pales in comparison to the .137 mark he had with the Pirates. He’s still kept strikeouts down with a 12.8% strikeout rate but still has a below-average 7.1% walk rate. Since the trade, Frazier has the 24th lowest wRC+, 14th worst wOBA, ranks in the bottom 50 in OBP, and has the 14th worst slugging percentage.