When the Orioles signed Adam Frazier for $8 million this offseason, they hoped he could return to his 2021 form when he was an All-Star with the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Frazier, a veteran second baseman, had a down year in 2022 and was one of several veterans Baltimore acquired hoping for a bounce back. Overall, that hasn’t happened. Frazier’s performance at the plate is near league average, and he’s rated by multiple metrics as one of the sport’s worst defensive second basemen.
But none of that matters when he’s at the plate in a clutch situation.
“That’s what gets me going,” Frazier said. “That’s what I live for.”
Frazier, one of the heroes of , is one of the most clutch hitters on perhaps the most clutch team in the American League. The 31-year-old is hitting far better with runners in scoring position and in high-leverage situations than he does in low-pressure moments. As a team, only the Atlanta Braves are better than the Orioles in those two situations.
“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 manager Brandon Hyde said.
Frazier entered Tuesday’s game against the Houston Astros, , hitting .297 with an .861 OPS in high-leverage situations. With runners in scoring position, he’s slashing .300/.385/.560 — good for a .945 OPS that is third best on the team behind Cedric Mullins and Gunnar Henderson. His OPS+ — a normalized version of OPS in which 100 is league average — in such situations is 64% better than his overall OPS of .713 and 48% better than league average.
“He just wants to be up there in those moments,” Hyde said. “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 in which the Orioles have brought in a veteran second baseman who has been clutch despite overall mediocre numbers. Last year, it was Rougned Odor who became a fan favorite after his many instances of late-game heroics.
Whether clutch hitters actually exist is a common debate in baseball. Some members of the analytics community, including Bill James, who coined the term sabermetrics, contend that such a skill is a myth. In the large sample size that is a 162-game season as well as the long careers many players have, a player performing well (or poorly) in big situations is expected to average out over time. And if they somehow knew how to hit better when the lights are brightest, they’d also do so when they’re dim.
But most players don’t believe 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 said. “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’s clutch hitting in 2023 isn’t an anomaly, though. He’s been a better hitter in those situations throughout his eight-year career. Across 859 games with the Pirates, San Diego Padres, Seattle Mariners and Orioles, Frazier has a .796 OPS with runners in scoring position and .850 OPS in high-leverage situations versus a .726 career OPS.
But the numbers don’t do Frazier’s clutchness justice. And judging such a trait is more about vibes than evidence, anyway. It’s the anecdotal that’s more important to understanding his success in big moments.
His RBI double down the left field line to score Jorge Mateo from first in the was just the latest in a long line of Frazier’s clutch moments. In April, he had three big ones in the span of a week. He hit a in a 4-0 win over the Washington Nationals before taking part in two walk-offs against the Detroit Tigers. First, , putting the ball on the ground to allow Ryan Mountcastle to score. Two days later, he was Hyde’s preferred pinch runner, as Frazier to score the winning run and was awarded with a Gatorade bath.
In May, Frazier hit a at Yankee Stadium as part of the Orioles’ seven-run seventh that led them to victory. He then hit one of Baltimore’s most clutch home runs of the season, although it came in an 11-7 loss to the Cincinnati Reds, when he tied the score with a . Two weeks later, he recorded the first multi-homer game of his career with in a win over the Miami Marlins. Frazier, a contact hitter, already has a career-high 13 home runs this year — eight more than he hit in his All-Star 2021 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 said. “I feel like he has his same demeanor and same approach and sticks to it.”
In the Orioles’ first pivotal series against the Rays for American League East supremacy in July, Frazier laid down a to set up a game-winning sacrifice fly. Two days later, Hyde tapped Frazier to pinch hit to lead off the ninth against Pete Fairbanks, the closer he roped the double off Sunday, and the veteran the go-ahead run. Hyde did the same thing earlier this month in a 5-4 win over the Los Angeles Angels in extras when Frazier in the ninth and scored the game-tying run.
No player on the Orioles has been more than Frazier, and Hyde said the second baseman’s approach in crucial situations is why he’s successful.
“In those type of moments, there’s an art to slowing the game down,” Hyde said.
Frazier credited his even-keeled nature for his ability to do so.
“I stay pretty level throughout the day and night, game or no game,” Frazier said. “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 more than anything, Frazier’s success in those moments is perhaps just because he wants to have the bat in his hands during them.
“When the game’s on the line,” he said, “I’m gonna come through.”
Orioles at Astros
Wednesday, 2:10 p.m.
TV: MASN
Radio: 97.9 FM, 101.5 FM, 1090 AM
()
