When the Orioles signed Adam Frazier for $8 million this offseason, they hoped he may return to his 2021 type when he was an All-Star with the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Frazier, a veteran second baseman, had a down 12 months in 2022 and was one in every of a number of veterans Baltimore acquired hoping for a bounce again. Overall, that hasn’t occurred. Frazier’s efficiency on the plate is close to league common, and he’s rated by a number of metrics as one of many sport’s worst defensive second basemen.
But none of that issues when he’s on the plate in a clutch state of affairs.
“That’s what gets me going,” Frazier mentioned. “That’s what I live for.”
Frazier, one of many heroes of Sunday’s exhilarating win over the Tampa Bay Rays, is likely one of the most clutch hitters on maybe essentially the most clutch group within the American League. The 31-year-old is hitting much better with runners in scoring place and in high-leverage conditions than he does in low-pressure moments. As a group, solely the Atlanta Braves are higher than the Orioles in these two conditions.
“Hitting with runners in scoring position or hitting in big spots is definitely a skill, and we’ve done a really good job with that this year,” Orioles supervisor Brandon Hyde mentioned.
Frazier entered Tuesday’s sport towards the Houston Astros, a 9-5 Orioles win, hitting .297 with an .861 OPS in high-leverage conditions. With runners in scoring place, he’s slashing .300/.385/.560 — good for a .945 OPS that’s third finest on the group behind Cedric Mullins and Gunnar Henderson. His OPS+ — a normalized model of OPS wherein 100 is league common — in such conditions is 64% higher than his general OPS of .713 and 48% higher than league common.
“He just wants to be up there in those moments,” Hyde mentioned. “He just has zero, zero fear. He’s rolling with a ton of confidence all the time. I love when he’s in those moments, also, because you know it’s going to be a great at-bat. It’s going to be a competitive at-bat.”
Frazier makes it two straight seasons wherein the Orioles have introduced in a veteran second baseman who has been clutch regardless of general mediocre numbers. Last 12 months, it was Rougned Odor who grew to become a fan favourite after his many situations of late-game heroics.
Whether clutch hitters really exist is a typical debate in baseball. Some members of the analytics group, together with Bill James, who coined the time period sabermetrics, contend that such a talent is a fable. In the massive pattern measurement that may be a 162-game season in addition to the lengthy careers many gamers have, a participant performing properly (or poorly) in large conditions is anticipated to common out over time. And in the event that they in some way knew hit higher when the lights are brightest, they’d additionally achieve this once they’re dim.
But most gamers don’t consider that, and neither does Frazier.
“The numbers kind of speak for themselves. If it doesn’t exist, why is there even a stat for it?” Frazier mentioned. “Some guys have tough luck here and there. Last year, I didn’t feel like I was great in those big situations, but I came through at the end of the year. It goes back to that. If it didn’t exist, why do they keep track of it? I don’t know. It definitely matters.”
Frazier clutch hitting in 2023 isn’t an anomaly, although. He’s been a greater hitter in these conditions all through his eight-year profession. Across 859 video games with the Pirates, San Diego Padres, Seattle Mariners and Orioles, Frazier has a .796 OPS with runners in scoring place and .850 OPS in high-leverage conditions versus a .726 profession OPS.
But the numbers don’t do Frazier’s clutchness justice. And judging such a trait is extra about vibes than proof, anyway. It’s the anecdotal that’s extra necessary to understanding his success in large moments.
His RBI double down the left discipline line to attain Jorge Mateo from first within the ninth inning Sunday was simply the most recent in an extended line of Frazier’s clutch moments. In April, he had three large ones within the span of every week. He hit a pinch-hit two-run homer in a 4-0 win over the Washington Nationals earlier than collaborating in two walk-offs towards the Detroit Tigers. First, he was the hitter, placing the ball on the bottom to permit Ryan Mountcastle to attain. Two days later, he was Hyde’s most popular pinch runner, as Frazier raced dwelling on a wild pitch to attain the successful run and was awarded with a Gatorade tub.
In May, Frazier smacked a three-run homer off the foul pole at Yankee Stadium as a part of the Orioles’ seven-run seventh that led them to victory. He then hit one in every of Baltimore’s most clutch dwelling runs of the season, though it got here in an 11-7 loss to the Cincinnati Reds, when he tied the rating with a two-run lengthy ball within the eighth. Two weeks later, he recorded the primary multi-homer sport of his profession with two large flies in a win over the Miami Marlins. Frazier, a contact hitter, already has a career-high 13 dwelling runs this 12 months — eight greater than he hit in his All-Star 2021 marketing campaign.
“He’s the same no matter if it’s his first at-bat of the day with nobody on in the first inning or if it’s the bottom of the ninth, two outs with runners on first and second,” Henderson mentioned. “I feel like he has his same demeanor and same approach and sticks to it.”
In the Orioles’ first pivotal collection towards the Rays for American League East supremacy in July, Frazier laid down an ideal sacrifice bunt in further innings to arrange a game-winning sacrifice fly. Two days later, Hyde tapped Frazier to pinch hit to steer off the ninth towards Pete Fairbanks, the nearer he roped the double off Sunday, and the veteran singled and later scored the go-ahead run. Hyde did the identical factor earlier this month in a 5-4 win over the Los Angeles Angels in extras when Frazier blooped a pinch-hit double within the ninth and scored the game-tying run.
No participant on the Orioles has been tasked to pinch hit greater than Frazier, and Hyde mentioned the second baseman’s method in essential conditions is why he’s profitable.
“In those type of moments, there’s an art to slowing the game down,” Hyde mentioned.
Frazier credited his even-keeled nature for his potential to take action.
“I stay pretty level throughout the day and night, game or no game,” Frazier mentioned. “If the crowd gets loud, it’s just noise. It makes your mind actually more clear on what you’re trying to do. I’d rather it be loud and something on the line than nobody on in the first inning.”
But greater than something, Frazier’s success in these moments is probably simply because he needs to have the bat in his arms throughout them.
“When the game’s on the line,” he mentioned, “I’m gonna come through.”
Orioles at Astros
Wednesday, 2:10 p.m.
TV: MASN
Radio: 97.9 FM, 101.5 FM, 1090 AM
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Source: www.bostonherald.com