The Yankees’ math never really added up for Clint Frazier.
Frazier, who famously couldn’t remain with the major league team after years as a leading prospect, seems to hold a lingering grudge against the franchise and its focus on analytics.
“I do feel like they hired a few too many rocket scientists to try to like make the lineup,” Frazier stated on “Foul Territory” on Thursday, “instead of just like letting a former player or a guy that has more experience write the lineup.”
He recalled to fellow ex-Yankee and podcast host Erik Kratz being told by one analyst that there is no such thing as “players getting hot.”
“I could 55-for-55, and they would be like, ‘he’s not hot, he’s going to cool down.’ They believed you were what you were,” he said. “And in my mind, I was like, that’s not using your eyes… you gotta run with that sometimes.”
Frazier was a polarizing presence for the Yankees upon his arrival as a 21-year-old prospect from Cleveland in 2016 as part of the Andrew Miller trade — in part due to his flowing red locks.
The Yankees relaxed their hair policy this season, giving Frazier one more qualm with his former franchise.
“I was just highly offended man,” he said. “I felt like I was one of the guys there trying to push the envelope. That felt personal.”
Frazier never realized his potential over parts of five MLB seasons with the Bombers, struggling with multiple concussions and getting released in 2021 and bouncing from the Cubs to the Rangers to the White Sox, seeing his last MLB action in 2023.
Once the No. 53 prospect in MLB.com’s top 100, Frazier’s MLB days ended with a .235 batting average, 29 home runs and 101 RBIs over parts of 7 MLB seasons.
Frazier officially retired last season after a run with the Charleston Dirty Birds in the Atlantic League.
