PHOENIX — Perhaps it seemed like a surprise Sunday when the Pirates optioned Adam Frazier to Class AAA Indianapolis. Frazier, a seemingly established fixture of the Pirates bench, was heading to the minor leagues for, presumably, his most extended playing time there since 2016.
But consider the options.
Literally, Frazier has minor league options.
“I think the term that’s used is ‘asset allocation,’” Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said. “He’s got options. He can be recalled. At this point in time, we also felt it’d be beneficial for him to play some games and get some consistent at-bats.”
With Francisco Cervelli recovering from a jaw injury, the Pirates called up Jacob Stallings to provide some cushion behind the plate. So which player would have to be moved?
Clearly, it wasn’t going to be Elias Diaz, the No. 2 catcher. Sean Rodriguez, who is hitting .162 this season, also is the Pirates’ only back-up shortstop, and moving him off the roster would represent a permanent roster move because he doesn’t have options.
Right now, Frazier isn’t “atop of or in front of [infielder David Freese] as far as value to the club,” Hurdle said. Austin Meadows has shown no signs of slowing down. Hurdle previously has brushed off the possibility of optioning Gregory Polanco, and the Pirates aren’t in a position to send down any other starting position players.
So, that leaves Frazier.
“So when you basically talk about each player, there’s one player that makes sense on a couple different fronts,” Hurdle said. “It’s not easy. If he’s having the kind of season he was last year at this time, it’d be a different conversation.”
Indeed, Frazier, the opening-day leadoff hitter, has not been able to replicate his past success at the plate. In 56 games, he has three homers, eight RBIs and a .237 batting average. In addition, Frazier is getting less hard contact than he did last season — 20.2 percent of batted balls, compared with 27.5 in 2017, according to FanGraphs. So, what has changed?
“We’ve tried to put our finger on it,” Hurdle said.
What Hurdle has gleaned so far is that Frazier seems to be pulling more ground balls and hitting fly balls to left and left-center field. That’s something that Hurdle, a fellow left-handed hitter, could relate to.
“I hit a bunch of them,” Hurdle said. “It normally meant I was ahead of the soft stuff and behind the fastball, whether that’s timing, whether it’s foot down, whether it’s swing path.”
Whatever the case, playing in Indianapolis will give him more opportunities to work at second base, play the occasional game in the outfield and sharpen things up at the plate, Hurdle said. He started Monday at second base for the Indians.
Elizabeth Bloom: ebloom@post-gazette.com and Twitter @BloomPG.
First Published: June 12, 2018, 12:47 a.m.