Defense Drives Frazier to Success With Bucs
Over the past four seasons, one of the most under rated players on the Pittsburgh Pirates has been Adam Frazier. Since taking over the starting second baseman role in 2017, he has been solid on offense, and one of the best defensive second basemen in the league. His numbers won't jump off the stat page when you look at them, but digging into his performance deeper will show consistency throughout the 28-year old's career. Frazier's name was bounced around in trade rumors nearly all off-season but, he returns to the Pirates for 2020 ready to make an impact.
The 2019 season was Frazier's best offensive season since becoming a full-time MLB player. He hit .278 while tying his career-high with 10 home runs and setting a career-high with 50 RBI. Frazier hit all over the Pirates lineup, starting the year as the lead-off man and ending the season in the six or seven hole. Frazier is slated to return to the middle to bottom third of the batting order and can provide a spark in that part of the lineup.
Frazier has always shown great discipline at the plate and continued that last season. He was third on the team with 40 walks and was fourth on the team in on base percentage (.336) and OPS (.753). This helped him in the leadoff spot as he was able to work the count and make the opposing pitchers throw a lot of pitches to start the game. However, his average was not up to par as a leadoff hitter, where in 201 plate appearances he hit just .251. That is when Kevin Newman established himself as a leadoff hitter and bumped Frazier to the bottom half of the order.
The drop in the batting order took some pressure off of Frazier and benefited his stat line. Over the final three months of the season, when Frazier made the move down the order, he hit .303 with 7 home runs and 31 RBI. The move down gave Frazier some better pitches to hit and that in turn helped his batting average. Frazier is not an easy batter to pitch to as he can handle almost every pitch thrown at him. He hit .267 or better against every type of pitch, with his best performance coming against the off-speed pitch where he hit .297.
Frazier should once again be slated for the bottom half of the Pirates order, probably ending up in either the six or seven hole depending on the day. This should bode well for the Pirates and provide a spark to help turn over the lineup. The first five spots in the batting order look pretty solid, but the bottom half is in question. Frazier could be the guy to help turn over the lineup and get more RBI opportunities for the top of the lineup.
While Frazier has been solid on the offensive side of the ball, his defense took the biggest jump of any stat in 2019. A former super-utility player, Frazier used to have to focus on four or five different positions and his fielding percentage took a hit. In 55 games at second base in 2018, Frazier committed five errors in 392.1 innings for a .975 fielding percentage. In 2019, Frazier focused fully on second base, playing 142 games at the position, and comitted just 6 errors upping his fielding percentage to .989. He ranked third in fielding percentage among qualifying second baseman and it was by far the best season of his career.
For his efforts, Frazier was a finalist for a 2019 Gold Glove Award at second base. It came down to Frazier, Kolten Wong, and Ozzie Albies, who were the three best at Wins Above Replacement among second baseman. Albies had a WAR of 4.8, Wong's sat at 4.7, and Frazier had a WAR of 3. All three players played a big part in their team's defensive play and led all NL second baseman. In the end, Kolten Wong would take home the hardware, but Frazier took major strides towards becoming an everyday second baseman.
Frazier has provided some highlight worthy defensive plays for the Pirates over the years and has exceeded every expectation defensively. His success rate was placed at just 90% before the 2019 season, but he exceeded that finishing with a 94% success rate in getting outs that year. Whether he is with the Pirates or another team by season's end, Frazier is going to continue to grow and develop into a solid second baseman who could spend many years at the Major League level.
Prediction: .283, 8 HR, 43 RBI
I see Adam Frazier continuing along the path of his career numbers, hitting in the upper 200's with right around 10 home runs and 40 or so RBI. Without knowing when the season will officially begin, I predicted Frazier on the low side to account for less games being played. I don't think Frazier will be a Pirate after this season as the team would probably be better off trading him while his value is high. That would give Cole Tucker a path to the Major League level and allow Kevin Newman to shift over to second base.
As of now, the season is expected to begin somewhere around May 25th. Until then, we will continue to look at the men who make up this year's team and their contributions in 2020.
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