White Sox infielder Tyler Saladino already has noticed one difference at spring training since new third baseman Todd Frazier arrived.
“He definitely brings a little more volume to the clubhouse,” Saladino said. “He keeps it loose. He keeps everybody awake.”
When Frazier arrived at Camelback Ranch last week, the most important attribute he brought with him was the power that helped him pile up 64 home runs and 169 RBIs the last two seasons with the Reds. Playing solid defense at a problem spot for the Sox is also important.
Energy and the potential for leadership were just bonuses when the Sox acquired him in December in a three-team trade that sent Micah Johnson, Trayce Thompson and Frankie Montas to the Dodgers. But as the Sox try to wash off the grime of a failed 2015 season, the addition of Frazier’s enthusiasm this spring can’t hurt.
Frazier said Sunday he’ll try to help returning Sox veterans in the leadership department _ something the Sox lacked last year after the retirement of captain Paul Konerko in 2014.
“Being from New Jersey, I talk a lot, so that’s a little bit of it, but you try to lead by example,” Frazier said. “As a good leader, you need people behind you to back you up. You can’t do it single-handedly. Coming into a new complex and a new team, I’m not going to be as boisterous. I’m not going to be crazy. I have to find my little niche, find my way in there.”
After nine years in the Reds organisation that drafted him, Frazier is in new territory, but he said former Reds teammates Dioner Navarro, Zach Duke and Scott Carroll are helping him acclimate. He said he did “a little homework” online to find out more about his new team before he arrived in Arizona and praised the “great” pitching staff.
“We’re the new guys right now, so we have to work our way in,” Frazier said. “So far everybody has been treating me like family, and that’s all you can really ask for.”
Getting to know his new teammates is only half the challenge. Frazier also is switching to the American League, which he said will require some film study. But he also is familiar with the Indians pitching staff because of their annual series against the Reds and got a feel for the AL Central as a whole during interleague play last year.
“There have been times where there is a transition, seeing new pitchers, but interleague has really changed all that,” manager Robin Ventura said. “Most pitchers haven’t seen him very much either, so it can help him as well.”
Ventura hasn’t spent much time on the field with Frazier yet as the first few days of spring training are spent with pitchers and catchers, but he said he knows Frazier brings personality to the clubhouse. Frazier flashed it in his first spring media session Sunday when talking about his mother, who was emotional following his trade because she wanted “her baby to be happy.”
“She cried when I left to go to spring training this year,” Frazier said. “I go, ‘Ma, this is the 10th year I’m going to spring training. How about putting a smile on your face?’ She’s like, ‘OK.’ It was great. You love your mom to death.”