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The Charleston Dirty Birds of the Atlantic League lost one former big leaguer yesterday when infielder Davis Bertans Jersey , but they quickly filled that roster spot with another, the signing of outfielder . Now 29 years of age, Frazier was the No. 5 overall pick back in 2013 and spent the better part of a half decade ranked among the sports top prospects. Cleveland shipped him to the Bronx as part of a deadline blockbuster netting star reliever in 2016. For a time, Frazier looked like a potential building block for the Yankees. While injuries (multiple concu sions, an ankle sprain, an oblique strain) and a big league roster crowded by well-paid veterans (e.g. , ) routinely cut into Fraziers playing time, he appeared in 123 MLB games from 2018-20 and turned in a combined .267/.351/.485 batting line and popped 20 home runs in just 447 plate appearances. Frazier got a notable run as the teams primary left fielder in the shortened 2020 season and delivered the best stretch of his career: .267/.394/.511 with eight homers, six doubles, a triple and five steals in just 160 plate appearances. On the heels of that performance, Frazier secured himself the Opening Day nod in left field for the 2021 Yankees. He hit safely in his first four games and briefly looked to be picking up where he left off, but a protracted slump would soon set in. Frazier wound up struggling mightily through the seasons first three months, hitting .186/.317/.317 with a bloated 29.8% strikeout rate. The Yankees placed him on the injured list in early July with vertigo symptoms. Frazier would not only go on to mi s the remainder of the season hed ultimately be non-tendered that November, ending his Yankees tenure. Subsequent low-cost deals with the Cubs and White Sox didnt get Fraziers career back on track. He tallied just 45 plate appearances with the former and 76 with the latter, combining for a .204/.322/.262 slash and going homerle s on both the north and south side of the Windy City. The once-lauded prospect also had a brief stint in the Rangers organization after inking a minor league pact but didnt get called up from Triple-A Round Rock. Tumultuous as his stay in the Bronx was, Frazier showed plenty of promise at times and is still just 29 years old. He wont turn 30 until September. Hell face a long road back to the big leagues, but hed hardly be the first player to parlay a strong showing in the Atlantic League back into affiliated ball. Isaac Bonga Jersey |
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