The New York Yankees lost in Cleveland on Sunday by the count of 7-3, snapping their modest three-game winning streak. During the process, left fielder Clint Frazier provided some defensive fireworks, however, robbing Cleveland outfielder Jordan Luplow of extra bases.
Take a look:
Superman! Those are always fun and the degree of difficulty increases on a dive when a player is kind of going back toward the wall in addition to going sideways. Even though we see this multiple times a year, let us not grow numb to just how impressive it is to be able to haul in the ball like that.
Of course, Frazier went 0 for 1 in the game after he took over in left, and this is a good jumping off point to discuss something that's been a problem for the Yankees this season. Out in left it's been a combination of Frazier, Brett Gardner and Mike Tauchman. Whoever it is, the production from left has been terrible. Heading into Sunday's action, Yankees left fielders had hit .185/.303/.215 with zero home runs and two RBI. The average left fielder this season has hit .235/.316/.385.
On the defensive spectrum, left field is the easiest position of the three outfield spots and, as such, a good number of left fielders are expected to be bat-first guys. To produce a .215 slugging percentage out there is dreadful.
There's plenty of blame to go around for the Yankees' disappointing 9-12 start. The offense as a whole has been pretty terrible. Left field has certainly been one of the holes.
But hey, Frazier made a great defensive play on Sunday. Maybe that'll shake something loose.
