Milwaukee Brewers: Who’s Left on the Third Base Market?
By Kenny Jilek
Todd Frazier
If you’re looking for one year of production from a solid power bat who doesn’t have too much up or downside, Todd Frazier is your guy. The lowest his OPS+ has ever been was 87 last year in a shortened season, and his career-high is 121.
The odd thing about Frazier is how many different ways he’s been a hitter in the MLB. His advanced stats have been extremely volatile, but his total production at the end of the day has stayed steady for his whole career. His walk percentage has been everywhere from 22nd percentile to 96th; his hard-hit percentage has been as low as 16th and as high as 67th percentile, his strikeout percentage has ranged from 22nd to 52nd percentile. Even with his hitting constantly changing style, he’s had an OPS+ over 100 in six of his 9 years as a starter.
On the defensive side, he’s slightly above average, but he’s not going to set the world on fire at third. He’s 20 Defensive Runs Saved Above Average for his career, and has logged almost 900 innings at first base as well, so he can play there if needed. He also pitched a perfect inning in 2020, including a strikeout of Adam Duvall, so he can pitch if needed in a blowout.
Frazier’s pop is probably mostly gone, and he won’t be the 35 home run hitter that he was as an All-Star in 2015, but he’s still got at least one more solid year in him, and the Milwaukee Brewers could take advantage of that for very little money.