Todd Frazier mimics early season hot streak here in August

The narrative has evolved to the point that all of the Mets’ free agent acquisitions prior to the 2018 season were a colossal mistake. Meanwhile, Todd Frazier is in the middle of a nice streak and his ability to contribute with the bat, on the field and even on the bases show he’s still the guy the Mets hoped they were getting, the guy everyone raved about when they signed him to a two-year deal. The two disabled list stints are masking what has been a productive season.

When the signing was made, Frazier was a plus defender with 40-homer upside who was also better learning the strike zone and upping his walk percentage. On top of that, on a team with durability concerns, he was a guy who had never been on the DL. The downside came from the vocal minority who still fixate on batting average as the best way to rate players offensively. Frazier’s AVG hadn’t been good since he left the Reds.

Much like the Mets themselves, Frazier got off to a terrific start in 2018. Not only was he putting up a great triple slash line — .293/.434/.534 through his first 18 games – he was hitting the ball hard. He had a 45.2 Hard% at that point, a mark that would have been the third-best rate in the majors in 2017. He wasn’t chasing pitches and he was stinging the ball.

Then Frazier tried to play through an injury. He saw his OPS drop from .969 to .769 before he went on the DL for the first time in his career due to a left hamstring strain. He missed nearly a month. Frazier returned in early June and played for a month and was not particularly good. Then he returned to the DL, this time with a strained left rib cage.

But since returning from the second DL stint, Frazier is back to hitting the ball with authority. In 21 games and 84 PA, Frazier has a .280/.345/.507 line. And he has that with a .309 BABIP, so it’s not like he’s been incredibly fortunate with the hits falling in. And since August 7, he has a 43.8 Hard% so he’s hitting the ball with authority once more.

In 2016, Frazier had a 2.7 fWAR Last year he posted a 3.1 mark. This year, in slightly over half a season (82 Games, 344 PA) he has a 1.5 fWAR. His production is right in line with what he did the two previous seasons. And if we look at Baseball-Reference, we see it views his season to date even more favorably, as it has him with a 2.1 bWAR – better than what he did in the previous two campaigns by their accounting.

You need to collect good players and a healthy Frazier fits that bill. He shouldn’t be the best guy on your team but if he’s the fourth banana in your offense, that’s good. Hopefully, the Mets have Michael Conforto and Brandon Nimmo ahead of him in the production pecking order. Can there be another guy above him, too?

Here in late August, none of the six free agents signed by Sandy Alderson prior to the season is having a banner year. Adrian Hernandez couldn’t get past the fork in his back and Jose Reyes admired Hernandez’ fork so much that he went out and got his own. But maybe there’s still hope for Jay Bruce, Anthony Swarzak, Jason Vargas and Frazier going forward. Bruce is hitting well in his rehab stint and Vargas has put together back-to-back starts where he wasn’t terrible. Swarzak finally seemed to be delivering quality innings before going back on the shelf. And Frazier is hitting again here in August.