ST. LOUIS — Adam Frazier's search began with a message to Brian Esposito, the manager at Triple-A Indianapolis, hours after learning of his demotion to the minors June 10. Frazier, a starter for the Pirates in 93 games last season, was reaching out to reassure Esposito he'd be in the lineup the following night.
Some major leaguers don't report for a few days. Not Frazier. He was taking ground balls at second base in Indianapolis less than 24 hours later. The 26-year-old fixed a flaw in his swing thanks to a text message from his father later that month; however, it's his improved defense that could make his stay in the majors permanent.
Although Gregory Polanco's season-ending injury required Frazier to play right field in an 8-7 loss to the Cardinals on Monday night, he's expected to spend most of his time at second base the rest of the season. After all, Frazier's shown Clint Hurdle that he's no longer a liability at the position and could be a regular there in 2019.
"The opportunity is there to show what I can do," Frazier told DKPittsburghSports.com. "I need to make the most of this month and finish strong. Have some momentum going into next year."
He's made the most of the opportunity so far. Frazier had two more hits Monday night, including an RBI single in the sixth inning. He is batting .350 with five homers and 21 RBIs in 38 games since being recalled July 25. His average is the fifth-highest in the National League in that span, while his 15 doubles are tied for first. His ground-ball rate is down 19 percent from his first stint with the club, while 48 percent of the balls he's put in play were deemed hit hard, according to FanGraphs, compared to 20.2 percent earlier this season.
He has his father to thank for that resurgence. Tim Frazier told his son for over a month that he was holding his hands too high in his batting stance. Adam brushed off the comment until he received a text message while sitting in the visitors clubhouse at Huntington Park in Columbus, Ohio.
Tim had sent a screenshot of Adam facing the Braves' Julio Teheran one year earlier. Adam happened to be watching film of himself at the time and fast-forwarded until he realized his father was right all along. His hands were roughly one foot higher this season than they were when he batted .273 in 121 games for the Pirates last season.
Frazier was hitting just .237 with eight extra-base hits and a 57.1 percent ground-ball rate at the time of his demotion. He had started only 28 of 64 games and struggled as a pinch-hitter.
"Coming out of spring felt good and didn’t play a whole lot after that," Frazier explained. "Then we’re playing in 30-degree weather, so it’s hard to put aside the results, which I talk about all the time. ... When stuff doesn’t feel quite right to go with 30-degree weather, you start thinking about things a little bit more. I guess during that time with the spotty play and everything else the hands got a little bit higher. I was just searching."
Frazier's hit well at almost every level since being drafted in the sixth round out of Mississippi State in 2013. He made his big league debut three years later, earned a spot on the opening day roster in 2017 and was the Pirates' leadoff hitter when this season opened in Detroit.
But he could never carve out his niche defensively. Frazier started 162 minor league games as a shortstop but lacks the range to play there in the majors. He made 71 starts in the outfield, compared to 38 at second base, and 15 of those came this season. Frazier was a candidate to be the Pirates' starting left fielder this season until they acquired Corey Dickerson in late February, which forced him to redirect his focus to second base.
It wasn't until he returned to Triple-A that he found comfort at the position. Frazier, no matter where he was playing each night, would take ground balls at second base before games. There was no promise of time there when he returned to the majors; however, he wanted to use his time in the minors to address what could be his one weakness.
"I think the coolest thing about him going through that process was ordinarily you expect a guy to get sent down and take the news a certain way, then you always try to play that game to see when he's going to report," Esposito, who will be with the Pirates the remainder of the season, said. "He reached out immediately. Once he got down there he was all business. It’s a great story because he did what he was supposed to do. He was working on his defense every day."
Hurdle said: "Sometimes, it gets down to what you need to do if you want to play every day. I think he's got a really good understanding of what he needs to do, the kind of player he needs to be to play more. Nobody wants to be labeled early in their career a one-dimensional player. 'Well, you know, there's enough bat there that he can go play defense.' I don't think anybody wants to wear that tag."
Frazier's improved his ultimate zone rating, a defensive metric that quantifies how many runs a player saved or gave up through their fielding, from negative-3.8 at second base last season to plus-0.5 this season. He made a diving stop to preserve a win in Denver last month and has shown better range at the position since returning.
He's also committed four errors in 147 chances at second base this season, compared to eight in 162 chances last season. Josh Harrison started there with Adam Wainwright on the mound Monday night, but Hurdle plans to give Frazier ample time there in September because he was "developing the best defense we’ve seen from him."
Frazier has started in seven of their last eight games, including five at second base. He's no longer being replaced late in games, either. He plans to spend his offseason in Nashville, where he works out at Vanderbilt University with a number of fellow major leaguers. This time, he'll focus on the position he's finally proving he can play at the next level.
"It's all about getting out there and doing it up here," Frazier said. "Playing more definitely helps."
1. 'One of those rare nights'
Trevor Williams' unprecedented run came to an end. He gave up four runs, all in the fourth inning, and allowed seven hits over five innings Monday against the Cardinals. He also struck out six with zero walks and was in line for the win until Edgar Santana was tagged for a go-ahead three-run homer in the eighth.
Williams allowed four runs over his previous nine starts combined. His 0.76 ERA in 49 innings since the All-Star break was also the lowest mark in the majors, and his 20 2/3 consecutive scoreless innings was also the longest active streak in the NL. It all came to an end with an RBI single by Marcell Ozuna, followed by a two-run double by Paul DeJong in the fourth.
The Cardinals, now 80-64, scored their fourth run on a sacrifice fly by Harrison Bader to tie the score, 4-4. Williams pitched a scoreless fifth inning to finish the outing, yet that was little consolation after his teammates spotted him a four-run lead.
"I didn't necessarily limit [the damage]," Williams said. "I did give up four runs. Letting that be the only inning they scored runs, sure. But I could have held them to one or two runs in that inning. … I didn’t do my job."
The Pirates owned the best team ERA in the majors dating back to July 8, yet the bullpen blew its second lead in the past week. They regained the lead behind Harrison's solo home run and an RBI single by Frazier in the sixth, only for Santana to allow a three-run homer on a hanging slider to Matt Adams in the eighth:
The Cardinals added another run with a sacrifice fly off Dovydas Neverauskas. The Pirates responded with an RBI double from Josh Bell in the ninth, but their rally fell short. They finished with 13 hits and nine different players had at least one hit.
"Offensively, I thought we did some really good things," Hurdle said. "One of the rare nights we didn’t do things we wanted to do off the mound."
2. Harrison finds a way to stay ready.
Harrison's hamstring injury and the Pirates' focus on 2019 has limited him to only three starts in the past 20 games. His experience against Wainwright earned him the start Monday night.
While he went 0 for 2 with a strikeout against Wainwright, he hit a 420-foot shot to center off reliever Chase Shreve to push the lead back to one run:
"You can say it’s not my first rodeo," Harrison said with a grin. "I’ve been in the situation where I’ve had to do that before. Whereas young guys don’t necessarily know how to do it. It’s something I had to learn as I was coming into this game. … It’s always being ready."
He's batted .208 in his past 20 games, though he has hit safely in seven of his last eight starts. Harrison won't have enough time this season for his hamstring to fully heal, and it's likely his contract will be bought out by the Pirates this offseason. But he showed again the value he can bring when he's on the field.
3. Moran shows some worth at third.
Moran's been a disaster defensively. His negative-4.5 ultimate zone rating ranks 18th among 20 qualified third baseman in the majors, and he's registered negative-9 defensive runs saved. To compare, David Freese had a 5.3 UZR and plus-8 defensive runs saved as a Gold Glove finalist for the Pirates last season.
Sure, the inconsistent offense is to blame for much that's gone wrong with this team in the second half, but the infield defense is arguably the one area where the team has regressed the most over the past few seasons. It might not improve, either. Neal Huntington expressed confidence in Moran last week, and the 25-year-old will surely be the starting third baseman on opening day in Cincinnati next March.
So, any sign of improvement is noteworthy. Moran made a diving stop to rob Adams of possible extra bases in the first inning and made a pair of barehanded plays in the third, including his throw to first to rob Bader of a possible bunt single.
Oh, and Moran finally delivered some power, too. His solo home run in the first inning, a 405-foot shot to right off Wainwright, was only his ninth of the season and first since July 1:
"Kind of go through some spurts where I wasn’t swinging at the right pitches to drive the ball," Moran said. "I was getting some hits here and there, but it’s kind of tough to drive balls either out of the zone or putting yourself in bad counts. Trying to focus on getting a good count and driving the ball."