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TORONTO – Let's go back in time until March 10, 2017, the day that Clint Frazier – during his first spring training at the Yankees – broke his hair after a careful examination of the length of his locks. In my column for The Post published the next day, I mentioned the anonymous feelings of the leader of another team who knew Frazier well:
"If I have a problem with him, he will be very aware of everything going on around him. He is not the kind of guy who can come to work and block all the noise. "
Sensational. That turned out to be a hell of a screening report. Unfortunately for Frazier and the Yankees, precision remains deadly.
While Frazier's defense has become a major concern in this magical Yankees season, the team should be more concerned about the 24-year-old: whether he will ever sufficiently manage his roller-coaster personality to allow him to thrive in the fishbowl that is this franchise.
To his credit, Frazier, from the designated hitter Tuesday night, launched a two-run circuit and participated in the Yankees' 4-2 defeat against the Blue Jays at Rogers Center. He now has an impressive .273 / .323 / .533 slash line on this occasion, his best championship opportunity to date.
Even though he challenged such a notion, defiantly asserting, "I do not need motivation to write articles," while he was engaging in a competition with him. Author of this article (OK, that was me), the Frazier plate promise offered promise that he may be able to turn what looked like a persecution complex to his advantage. Prior to the match, Frazier held a rude and emotional press conference of eight minutes to clear up the mess he created on Sunday night, when he committed three terrible actions in the Right field to significantly help the Red Sox to register an 8-5 win at Yankee Stadium and then refused to discuss his bad night with the media, in violation of the standard operating procedure of the team.
And he discovered his soul which inadvertently showed how much he was pissed off by all this noise.
"The way I am perceived by people is not what I really think," Frazier said. "Stories that should not have been stories have been stories."
He then listed his grievances, starting with Hairgate, which took place long enough for current Yankees director Aaron Boone to work for ESPN at the time and the current commentator for the MLB network, Joe Girardi, directs the Yankees.
If he really does not want to turn real and perceived criticism into fuel, then Frazier has to find a way to let things go. He can not afford to worry about how others view him. Alex Rodriguez could get away with this because he had better talent and (probably) better illegal drugs improving performance, and over time, A-Rod learned to get rid of this stupidity as well as the kind of bullshit that hit Frazier on Sunday. Maybe A-Rod, as a Yankees advisor, can advise Frazier on how to follow his example.
I write all this with sympathy. Frazier's insecurities were hard to see, and how not to feel the sorrow of someone who endured the horrors of a concussion as Frazier did last year? What a shame it would be if his state of mind prevented him from realizing his obvious gifts.
In March 2017, Danny Fowler, a discreet young man who said his family did not even know he had been in the Potential Baseball America rankings, was born in Frazier's memory. Frazier, who was content to congratulate his teammate when I asked him for a quote, expressed his fear at Fowler's laissez-faire attitude towards his positive coverage. He could never be that way, acknowledged Frazier.
Can he determine how to become a red thunder without creating a storm every time he encounters adversity? This could very well determine Frazier's professional future. It's as vital as, if not more than, his work glovew.
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