Frazier's mom sparks resurgence at plate

This story was excerpted from Daniel Kramer's Mariners Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

SEATTLE -- They say Mom knows best, and Adam Frazier’s mom had all the faith in the world that the Mariners’ second baseman would turn things around after a brutal three-month start to the season.

The scene was the team hotel in San Diego in early July, and Frazier’s mother, Danielle, was in an elevator with Mariners manager Scott Servais. Elsewhere, Frazier was in the middle of arguably the worst stretch of his career, leading to diminished playing time.

“She said to me, ‘Don’t worry, Adam is going to hit,’” Servais recounted earlier this month. “‘He’s always hit, coach. He’s going to be fine.’ I said, ‘Mrs. Frazier, I believe he will hit and he’ll be fine.’ And she was right. Sometimes you have to listen to the moms.”

Since that conversation, Frazier has been one of the most consistent Mariners at the plate, slashing .305/.363/.376 (.739 OPS) over his last 40 games. And there was a lot more that went into his turnaround than mom’s faith.

Frazier has consistently been taking early batting practice to work out his offensive kinks. There wasn’t necessarily an issue with his swing or a significant mechanical adjustment, he says. Rather, some of his stumbles were simply rooted in adjusting to the American League and a new division after playing in Pittsburgh for parts of six seasons, then San Diego for two months last year.

“It’s the whole division,” Frazier said. “You start facing guys, seeing them more and more and start having an idea of what they’re going to do, and it gives you a better chance for success. But yeah, it was definitely a learning process the first few months.”

Frazier has always made contact. His 12 percent strikeout rate ranks in the 96th percentile, per Statcast, and his 13.6 percent whiff rate is in the 97th percentile, the seventh-lowest among 190 qualified hitters. Power is not part of his game, with a .397 career slugging percentage and just three homers this year, but his 28.5 percent line-drive rate is MLB’s 17th highest.

That’s a smorgasbord way to state the obvious, that Frazier has his best success when he’s not hitting balls right at defenders. So, he focused more on shrinking the strike zone and seeking more middle-middle pitches rather than extending himself to the edges, which led to foul balls and soft outs. That was an issue, he said, during June, when Frazier slashed .144/.225/.156 (.381 OPS).

“I feel like I got in a good hitting position finally,” Frazier said. “I would just try to zone up a little more and look middle-middle instead of trying to cover the whole plate. I think that’s helped me get better pitches to hit, and then not miss pitches I’m supposed to be hitting.”

Since Servais’ meeting with Danielle, Frazier is hitting .333 on in-zone pitches, way up from the .239 mark he had prior.

It was perhaps no coincidence that Frazier’s turnaround coincided with the Mariners’ 14-game win streak, during which he was one of their best hitters. He also helped carry the offense when key contributors were sidelined, and now that Julio Rodríguez is back, Frazier moved from leadoff to the lower leg of the order, where his hitting profile is perhaps more conducive to lengthening the Mariners’ lineup.

There could be slumps the rest of the way, but as Frazier has gotten more comfortable with his approach and new team, a rut as long as the one he had earlier this season might be unlikely.

“Adam Frazier over the last six, seven months or six, seven weeks has been awesome,” Servais said. “I don't think people give him enough credit for turning his season around the way he has, and he's a tough out. He just puts the bat on the ball. He finds holes, gets on base and he creates a lot of havoc out there. So, his mom was right.”