Former Major League Baseball prospect Clint Frazier is continuing his baseball career in the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball.
Frazier, 29, has signed with the Charleston Dirty Birds, the team announced Friday on social media.
Frazier was drafted in the first round of the 2013 MLB Draft by the then-Cleveland Indians. He worked his way up the minor leagues, before being sent to the New York Yankees in a blockbuster 2016 deadline deal that brought reliever Andrew Miller to Cleveland. Frazier and pitcher Justus Sheffield were the headliners in the deal that also included pitchers Ben Heller and J.P. Feyereisen.
Frazier was Cleveland’s No. 2 prospect in 2016, per MLB Pipeline, and became the Yankees’ No. 2 prospect in 2017. He was a consensus top-50 prospect in all of baseball both year. He was eventually called up by the Yankees in July 2017, and made his debut against the Houston Astros at 22 years old. He even hit a home run in his debut.
Frazier was off to a great start in his career, but a left oblique injury ended his debut season in August.
In 2018, Frazier opened the year on the injured list with a concussion. He then went up and down between the majors and minors all year, before his season ended in September due to ongoing concussion symptoms.
Frazier began the 2019 season in Triple-A, and came up for a few months before being optioned in June. He didn’t return the rest of the season. The 2020 season ended up being his best at the MLB level. In 39 games, Frazier slashed .267/.394/.511 with eight home runs and 26 RBIs. Then, his injury issues returned.
In 2021, his last season in New York, Frazier removed himself from a June game due to dizziness. He went on the injured list, and wouldn’t return for the remainder of the season. Frazier hit .239 with an OPS of .761 across his five years in New York, and was designated for assignment after the 2021 season.
Frazier would then spend the next two seasons in Chicago — one with the Cubs and one with the White Sox. With the Cubs, he appeared in just 19 games in 2022, and with the White Sox, he appeared in just 33 games in 2023. Frazier hit .197 with a .545 OPS in 2023.
Frazier has been a free agent all offseason, and has now elected to continue his baseball career in an independent league. He’ll hope to somewhat get his career back on track, and maybe even make an MLB return at some point.
Frazier is still just 29 years old, so he has plenty of time to turn things around.
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