Todd Frazier’s Star Falling Quickly For Slumping Cincinnati Reds


Joy R. Absalon-USA TODAY Sports

Remember when we were talking about how Todd Frazier was going to turn into MLB‘s next big star at the hot corner, after a stellar first-week performance that left him with three home runs and a .480/.519/.920 triple-slash?

Yeah, me neither.

Such is a cruelty of sample sizes and the havoc they can wreak on hot streaks, and that’s something the Cincinnati Reds are finding out about in full effect these days.

There weren’t a lot of offensive heroes after the team’s bats spoiled a gem from Bronson Arroyo in a 2-1 loss on Tuesday against the St. Louis Cardinals, and while Todd Frazier ‘s 0-for-3 showing wasn’t the worst of the bunch (I’m looking at you, Zack Cozart), his may well have been the most disappointing.

Why? Well, because he had the most opportunity for redemption on this night.

Of the three times Frazier stepped up to the plate against Jaime Garcia, two of them were with opportunities with runners on the bases. His three stranded runners led the Reds on Tueday, adding another disappointing step downwards in the recent slump that he finds himself in.

The 27-year old’s 0-fer snapped a modest three-game hitting streak, and continued a 3-for-20 homerless slide over the last six games. Opening week is long gone, and his mostly S-driven .794 OPS make now make that high almost seem like a footnote at this point.

That’s not exactly a bad number, of course, though you have consider the drop if production for it to get there, since he was still sporting a a .941 OPS 10 games prior to Tuesday.

Frazier’s strikeout rate is now sitting at a career-high 25 percent, and while he’s certainly got the power to turn around a baseball once in a while, he’s simply not hitting the ball hard most of the time (12.9 percent line drive rate) despite making good contact (85.3 percent).

Unsurprisingly, the Reds offense is hurting in conjunction. As far as counting numbers go, the hot cornerman has just a pair of RBIs in his last nine games with a run scored, which isn’t helping Cincinnati’s league-low 15 runs over the last seven days. The team has lost five of its last eight, and has scored less than three runs in six of those games.

Now, everybody has to step up, and Frazier isn’t exactly in the same role as say, Joey Votto.

Still, the team needs all the help it can get, and that the Reds’ long-term third baseman is sporting one of the team’s lowest batting average (.240) just isn’t going to do.

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