Clint Frazier upset his Yankees teammates and the organization by not fielding questions after misplaying three balls in Sunday's 8-5 loss to the Red Sox, according to SNY's Andy Martino.
"What he's doing there by not talking -- and trust me on this -- he's alienating teammates who already roll their eyes at this guy for a number of reasons," Martino said on Monday, a day after Frazier committed one error and misjudged two more fly balls that all led to run-scoring plays.
Frazier, who is tied for the MLB lead with three errors among right fielders, let an Eduardo Nunez single roll under his glove and to the wall, allowing Michael Chavis to score from first and Nunez to reach third.
Later that inning, he dove in front of an Andrew Benintendi fly ball and couldn't keep the ball directly in front of him, allowing Brock Holt to score from first and Benintendi to take second and give Boston a 6-2 lead. In the eighth, he misjudged Chavis' fly ball down the right-field line, allowing it to bounce and roll behind him for an RBI triple.
Frazier did not make himself available to reporters after the game, although he talked about his miscues and his effort to improve defensively to one reporter hours after the game ended.
Nevertheless, in not standing in front of his locker and taking questions, it went against how the Yankees value accountability when talking to media.
"One of the things that the Yankees organization does so well is train media relations," Martino said. "All the way up to (GM) Brian Cashman, they train their players to be accountable, to come out and talk. If you go into the Yankees clubhouse after a game, everyone who messed up comes out right away, gets it over with and goes. It's the same thing with Cashman: When they have an injury, they announce the injury; they don't try to cover it up. Their mentality is, 'people are going to find out anyway, let's not create a big story by trying to cover something up.'"
Sunday's game wasn't the first time Frazier didn't answer to his mistakes following a game.
During a May 7 game against the Mariners, a fly ball in between Frazier and Brett Gardner fell in between them when neither called the other one off. After the game, there was a noticeable difference in how the veteran Gardner and how Frazier handled it.
"After the game, Brett Gardner, who I'm sure wanted to be anywhere but talking to us, basically has a receiving line in front of his locker for like a half an hour, giving interviews about this play. Clint Frazier is nowhere in sight," Martino said. "The next afternoon, 3 o'clock, the clubhouse opens, Frazier still hasn't talked about it. A couple of the beat writers walk up to him and ask, 'Clint, you have a second?' Frazier says, 'Not if it's about last night,' and he walks away. This is not the first time. That day, teammates were rolling their eyes. I saw it."
On Sunday, manager Aaron Boone and fellow outfielder Aaron Hicks were among the Yankees who explained why they thought Frazier had been making so many miscues in the field.
"Maybe pressing a little bit out there," Boone said. "He's working his tail off. He's making strides out there but there's been some mistakes along the way, too. That's part of continuing to develop a young player."
But Frazier wasn't. And that has left a sour taste in the Yankees' mouths, according to Martino.
"All the way up to the top of the front office, I guarantee you, they're going, 'Is this a professional or what? Is this guy a Yankee or what?'" Martino said. "Because Yankees don't act this way."