What's the deal with Todd Frazier?

[A Boy Named Seo]

His grand slam today got me thinking about him. He's got a really nice, level swing, my dudes.




slooooooow moooooooooo



His launch angles from 2015-2018 are 18.4, 20.3, 20.3, and 17.7 respectively, which fall solidly in the "line drive" category for batted balls (10-25 degrees). Even though he's got a "power hitter" rep, he doesn't have that upper-cut swing. That's good, I'd say.

I thought that he K'd way too much, but his 22.3% this year is almost exactly major league average (22.1%), so that doesn't seem to be a make or break thing with him.

Maybe he doesn't hit the ball hard enough when he hits it? His exit velocities from 2015-2018 are 89.2, 88.8, 87.5, and 89.4 respectively, which is slightly above league average (which I believe is 86.6). So, I guess that's not it.

His BABIP is putridly low every year. Is he perennially unlucky? Very predicable with where he hits the ball? Why isn't this dude any better? Or is he just like a super average dude now? Smart people, what say you?

[ashie62]

He's old

[Edgy MD]

I'm hesitant to dismiss his strikeouts as average. Average in baseball isn't really representative of the average guy, if you get what I mean.

I think he's probably pretty bad when not healthy, and between getting healthy and getting the Yankee cooties off of him, this is the first bit of something close to peak Frazier we've seen.

[A Boy Named Seo]

Yeah, I agree with you, probably on both counts. Definitely the health one. It seems like he gets fooled a lot but still makes shitty contact. That's super anecdotal, I know, but even in that slow-mo gif, he's way out front, yet still manages to make contact while losing the bat with one hand. Like, he takes a lot of ugly-ass swings. Maybe that's the silver bullet.

[smg58]

The BABIP comes from the shift. Like Bruce and Conforto, he has to hit home runs in bunches to make his average look respectable, and if he's playing hurt, that becomes a lot harder. He has looked healthy lately, though.

[MFS62]

He's starting to hit like the back of his baseball card says he should. And that's not necessarily a bad thing.
After a slow start, they are starting to get what they paid for. At an OPS+ of 101, his career OPS+ of 110 isn't out of reach.
Later

[Ceetar]

the simple answer is

he IS good

he played hurt for a good while earlier this season depressing his numbers, and he's still above average to this point. Solid 3-win player or so with good defense.

[Edgy MD]

[Centerfield]

Todd Frazier is an ok hitter. But he has the ugliest swing I’ve ever seen on a major leagues. Holy crap he looks bad.

[seawolf17]

Ashie62 wrote: He's old

He's only 32! That ain't it.

He's right at his career numbers this year. We're getting exactly what we should expect out of him, more or less.

[Frayed Knot]

Centerfield wrote: Todd Frazier is an ok hitter. But he has the ugliest swing I’ve ever seen on a major leagues.

Not as long as Hunter Pence lives and breathes he doesn't.

[Lefty Specialist]

He's blocking David Wright.

[MFS62]

Lefty Specialist wrote: He's blocking David Wright.

Seriously.
Frazier is the only regular hitting with any kind of pop.
And if they move him to first to make room for David, what happens to the Bruce experiment at first base?
If they activate him, the insurance, which pays about 75% of his salary, would stop.
The pro-rated remainder of this year's salary is around $2.4 million.
Is it worth it to pay him $2.4 million to be a pinch hitter?
As for recouping the money, will his fans go out to the ballpark to root for him if they don't know if they'll see him in the lineup?

Lots of questions, not sure about the answers.

Later

[Edgy MD]

That's about four bridges down the road.

[Guest cooby]

Lefty Specialist wrote: He's blocking David Wright.

Lol

Need to go pee

[MFS62]

Edgy MD wrote: That's about four bridges down the road.

Just happened to see this today in my horror scope, but have not verified it:

Amelia Earhart said, "Preparation, I have often said, is rightly two-thirds of any venture".

Or, I'll just cite the 6 P's. "Prior preparation prevents piss poor performance".
Or, from my classes for my Masters in Project Management - "You have to have a plan, and a contingency plan".

I'd like to see the plan.

Later

[Benjamin Grimm]

Amelia Earhart is a poor example of someone who avoided a bad outcome by preparing properly.

[MFS62]

Benjamin Grimm wrote: Amelia Earhart is a poor example of someone who avoided a bad outcome by preparing properly.

Actually, she was correct. There are three parts to a flight; take-off, flying and landing.
She got the first two thirds.

Later

[metirish]

When all is said and done i likely won'r remember Frazier on the Mets for anything remarkable, I have never warmed to him at all.

[Benjamin Grimm]

He still has all of 2019 (in theory, anyway) to change your mind.

[Edgy MD]

The Mets got Frazier in part because they weren't going to wait on Wright to make a full recovery in order to find more productivity at third. Virtually everyone agreed with that, and even had been agitating for them to be more aggressive at third. Even Wright agreed with that.

To suggest that they are unprepared because Wright may — may — come back seems unfair.

Redundancy is a good thing.