Nine players have been born on February 12th and have gone on to wear the pinstripes, but none of them had totally memorable tenures in New York.
Pat Dobson was a mainstay in the Yankees’ rotation from 1973-75, and Monk Dubiel started his career with the Yankees in 1944, starting 48 games in two years. Others, including 1953 World Series champion Don Bollweg, had brief, one-year stints. The shortest stint of the nine players came from Kiddo Davis, who played one singular inning in right field in 1926 before not appearing in the majors again until 1932 with the Phillies.
Of all the players celebrating their birthday today, none captivated Yankees fans in their short tenure more than the Toms River native whose Little League World Series factoid remains a memorable (and often meme’d) piece of Yankees trivia. I’m talking about, of course, the Toddfather himself, Todd Frazier.
Todd Brian Frazier
Born: February 12, 1986 (Point Pleasant, NJ)
Yankees Tenure: 2017
Frazier grew up in Toms River, playing for the local powerhouse Little League team that remains a staple in the Little League World Series to this day. It just so happened that the year he was there, 1998, they won it all. After the tournament, they were invited to Yankee Stadium on September 1st, where Frazier would stand next to Derek Jeter during the national anthem.
While many who win the Little League World Series never make it to the big leagues, Frazier remains one of the few who went on to have a great MLB career over a decade after their moment in the sun in Williamsport. After being drafted in the 34th round out of Toms River High School in 2004, he starred for Rutgers University and went in the first round to the Cincinnati Reds in 2007.
While his older brother, Jeff, got his lone stint in the majors in 2010, Frazier was becoming a top-50 prospect in the sport, eventually getting the call to the bigs in 2011, where he did fine in a cup of coffee.
In his first year as a full-time starter, he came third in Rookie of the Year voting in 2012, mashing 19 home runs and posting a 119 OPS+. After a down year in 2013, Frazier took full advantage of playing in Great American Ballpark the following year, slashing .273/.336/.459 with 29 home runs and 20 stolen bases, making his first All-Star Game in 2014.
In 2015, he represented the Reds in the Home Run Derby and won it in his home ballpark in the midst of his second (and final) All-Star season, mashing 35 homers. That offseason, the stumbling Reds traded Frazier to the Chicago White Sox in a complicated, three-team deal that involved seven players and the Los Angeles Dodgers. Fun fact: Frankie Montas was traded from the ChiSox to the Dodgers here!
His lone full season on the South Side of Chicago was a mixed bag. He once again showed his prodigal pop with 40 homers, but was down to a .225 batting average and a 107 OPS+, striking out 24.5 percent of the time. As his strikeout rate ballooned, it made him a one-trick pony offensively. By the middle of the 2017 season, he was barely over the Mendoza Line as he approached free agency at age 31.
But with the White Sox floundering and selling at the 2017 trade deadline, Frazier had a chance to rebuild his value elsewhere. In the middle of July, he was packaged with relievers Tommy Kahnle and David Robertson and sent to the Yankees for a bunch of young players who didn’t amount to much, headlined by former first-round pick Blake Rutherford.
The need was evident for the Yanks, who suddenly found themselves competing for the AL East crown in what was supposed to be a rare rebuild year. Chase Headley wasn’t cutting it at third base, and Frazier added some pop to a lineup that, aside from rookie sensations Aaron Judge and Gary Sanchez, was lacking it.
It took a few games, but the Toddfather eventually got his bat going. When the team that drafted him came to town a week after the trade, he went 3-for-5 with his first Yankee home run. He was a solidified presence for the bottom of the lineup down the stretch, and the hometown kid even had a two-week stretch in September where he ran a 1.255 OPS with five home runs in 11 games. Frazier was also a popular guy in the clubhouse, and with the help of one displeased Rays fan, helped start the “thumbs down” trend in reaction to big hits.
Frazier’s stats weren’t flashy, slashing just .222/.365/.423 with a 107 OPS+ in 66 games, but he lengthened the lineup and was slick with the glove at the hot corner. And come October, he would get to play playoff baseball for just the third time in his career after just five career postseason games.
Frazier had just a .588 OPS in the team’s trip to Game 7 of the ALCS, but had some moments. He had a three-hit game against Cleveland in ALDS Game 2, hit an RBI double in Game 4, and golfed a go-ahead three-run home run in Game 3 of the ALCS against the Astros.
Sadly for him and the Yankees, perhaps the more defining at-bat of his postseason would be his pitiful swing through a filthy pitch by series MVP Justin Verlander in Game 6 as the Astros went on to end the Yankees’ season and his Yankees tenure. He signed a two-year, $17 million contract with the crosstown rival Mets in the offseason.
Frazier had two decent seasons with the orange and blue across town, remaining a viable home run threat and solid overall hitter and defender, but he would be out of the league by 2021 after unsuccessful tenures with the Rangers and Pirates. He would have one final moment in the sun, however, winning a silver medal at the belated Tokyo Olympics in 2021.
Even in retirement, Frazier remains around the game of baseball and is back with the organization as a studio analyst for YES Network, even taking on color commentary duties over the last few seasons. We wish him a happy 40th birthday!
See more of the “Yankees Birthday of the Day” series here.