It didn't matter that the Mets took the field not even 14 hours after the completion of the previous night's game or that he only got "about three hours of sleep" -- Todd Frazier was ready to get to work.
The Mets third baseman has been struggling lately, hitting just .161 with only two home runs and three RBI over his last 15 games entering Thursday -- a stretch extending back before the All-Star Break -- but Frazier was determined to make a change, and his manager noticed.
"Usually, the reasons for success are reasons nobody knows," Mickey Callaway said. "But, he got up really early this morning and was in the cage at 7 a.m. before anybody got here. He felt like he and Chili [Davis] identified something after the game last night, and even though it was a noon game, he got out of bed and was hitting in the cage and watching video."
The early start to Frazier's work day paid off, as the 33-year-old slugger went 2-for-3, reached base four times and drove in two crucial first-inning runs in a 4-0 Mets win.
"[He] probably won us a game because of that," Callaway said. "So, he does what it takes. The guy's a winner, he always will be, and he works hard."
After starting off with an hour of "computer work," where Mets hitting coaches Davis and Tom Slater set up a comparison of Frazier from past years to this season, Frazier journeyed into the batting cages and went back to the basics.
"We do underhand flips and then get on the tee, we start simple," Frazier said. "We work on the tee, and until you get that feeling back, you keep going. It could take 20 swings, then it could take 100 swings. So, it's just a matter of getting that feel back right and being determined to do it."
Perennially an aggressive hitter, Frazier said he focused on staying "slow" and not jumping out at pitches on Thursday.
"I had to go back to the drawing board," Frazier said. "I lost it there for a little bit, basically swinging at everything. We talked about this earlier in the year. When I'm swinging at good pitches, usually I'm going to hit the ball hard and good things are going to happen."
The Mets didn't need much offense to win thanks to the effort from Jacob deGrom. It's a performance that Frazier has come to expect from the staff.
"We know our pitching's going to be there. So, our focus is to get as many runs as possible, whoever it is. Who wants to be the hero today?"