Adam Frazier will always remember June 23, 2016.
He and the Indianapolis Indians were playing the Gwinnett Braves in a Triple-A showdown near Frazier’s hometown of Bishop, Georgia. His family was on hand to see him play.
The Indians won 9-5 as Frazier played shortstop for the second time. After the game was over, manager Dean Treanor met with the team and Frazier knew it meant someone was being promoted to the Major League Baseball team, the Pittsburgh Pirates. But Treanor was “beating around the bush” and didn’t get to the point quickly.
“He went around asking everybody how they felt at each position,” Frazier recalls. “He asked me, ‘How did it feel?’ I said, ‘Well, it felt alright. It’s been a while.’ He was like, ‘Were you comfortable or uncomfortable?’ And I was like, ‘A little of both.’ He said, ‘Well, if (Pirate manager) Clint Hurdle asks you to run out there and play shortstop in Pittsburgh, what are you going to say?’ I was like, ‘Well, I got it.’ He said, ‘You better have it because you’re going to Pittsburgh.'”
That’s when the former Mississippi State standout learned his hard work had paid off and he was getting a shot in the MLB. He was called up the next day and had a hit in his debut. He has been with the Pirates ever since.
Frazier said a lot was going through his mind when Treanor told him and said it was an emotional moment.
“I got to walk outside and tell them (his family) after the game, which was a pretty great experience,” Frazier said.
Three years removed from MSU and a runner-up finish at the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska, Frazier found himself living out his dream. A talented player at MSU, he was taken in the sixth round of the 2013 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft.
As soon as MSU lost to UCLA in the national championship series, Frazier began his professional career. He started with the Jamestown Jammers of the Class A-Short Season New York-Penn League. He hit .321 with seven doubles and 27 RBIs, but it was a long way from the Dudy Noble Field and the MSU faithful he was so used to seeing.
“Coming out of Mississippi State and being treated as good as you could in college baseball, playing in front of a lot of fans being treated like a king essentially, and then going to Jamestown, New York, which is a really small town, a really small stadium and probably didn’t get a couple of hundred fans a game, that was a big adjustment,” Frazier said.
He began the 2014 season with the Bradenton Marauders, the Advanced-A affiliate for the Pirates. He hit .252 with 21 doubles and 42 RBIs, but he feared the possibility of not being elevated for the next season. He didn’t have a timetable on when he wanted to get to the majors, but he did have a goal of not repeating any of the levels.
Frazier said he grew up during that offseason and discovered what he needed to do to keep his game at the very best it could be and his body in playing condition.
“I didn’t really know how to prepare for a six, seven month season. I was working out three times a week and I guess not pushing myself as far as I could push myself,” Frazier said. “Going into that next year, I got after it. Four days a week, just in the weight room, just going as hard and heavy as I could for each set I was doing in the weight room.”
He was promoted and although he missed the first month with a broken finger, hit .324 with two home runs, 21 doubles and 30 RBIs with the Double-A Altoona Curve in 2015.
He said the biggest thing he had to overcome was the mental aspect of the grind playing baseball every day can bring. For MSU baseball coach John Cohen, there was little doubt in his mind Frazier would overcome the mental aspect.
“The baseball aspect and the IQ that he has is just off the chart. He’s a big leaguer, but more than that, he’s a big leaguer from the neck up,” Cohen said.
After hitting .371 as a sophomore, Frazier hit .352 and broke the single-season school record with 107 hits in 2013.
He began this season with the Indians and hit .333 with 16 doubles and 22 RBIs. In 22 games with the Pirates, he is hitting .372 (16-for-43) with five doubles and four RBIs.
Cohen has always been impressed with Frazier and knew it was only a matter of time until the utility player got his shot in the majors. He’s more impressed with the Pirate organization though.
“I know what Adam Frazier brings to the table. I know that you have to really pay attention to Adam Frazier,” Cohen said. “You have to watch him day after day after day to truly understand what he’s capable of. A lot of credit to Pittsburgh. They’ve given him this opportunity. You’ve got to notice him and you have to stay on top of what he’s all about.”
Frazier’s offensive style is singles and doubles. The left-hander can go up the middle and find the gaps. Power was not a part of his game at MSU and he hit three home runs in the minor leagues.
But Frazier has already hit a home run with the Pirates. In Sunday’s game against the Philadelphia Phillies, the 5-foot-10 Frazier was used as a pinch hitter in the seventh inning. With the game tied at 4, Frazier took a 95 mile per hour fastball from Edubray Ramos and hit it 497 feet into the right field bleachers.
“I knew I had it,” Frazier said. “It was a tough pitcher up there throwing hard. I had taken a couple of close off-speed pitches and I had a feeling he was going to come back with fastball. I just got the barrel out in front. It felt great, especially in that situation with the game tied late in the game.”
The home run proved to be the difference as the Pirates won 5-4.
Frazier said he felt good in batting practice that day and hit a couple out.
“I’ve seen him hit balls farther than you’d think he could hit them,” Hurdle said after the game. “He can hit a baseball, and when it’s elevated and he puts a good swing on it, it can travel a little bit.”
Frazier’s career will be full of days he will never forget, ranging from college to the minors to life in the MLB. Being called up for the first time will stick with him forever. But he hopes it’s the last time he is called up.
“I’m just trying to preform and stay up here,” Frazier said.
Follow Dispatch sports writer Ben Wait on Twitter @bcwait
Ben Wait reports on Mississippi State University sports for The Dispatch.
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