Yankees' Clint Frazier blasts New York media, stares down reporter while defending choice to skip postgame interview

The apparent feud between reporters and the maligned outfielder seems to be intensifying

A rocky relationship between New York Yankees outfielder Clint Frazier and local media might have hit its boiling point after Tuesday night's Yankees loss when Frazier abruptly called off a postgame interview following a staredown with a reporter.

The 24-year-old prospect made headlines before Tuesday's game by telling the assembled media he didn't owe anyone an apology for not speaking with reporters after Sunday night's loss to the Boston Red Sox -- a game in which he notably misplayed three fly balls in right field. But things got even testier after New York's 4-3 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays, according to NJ.com, with Frazier taking two questions and then leaving the clubhouse after "a few seconds of awkward silence" and a seconds-long glare at Ken Davidoff of the New York Post.

"I'm done here," Frazier said, per the report. "They're not asking me anything."

The outfielder's quick exit, which came the same day New York tabloids suggested he's "killing his trade value in Yankees' agony," was just the latest in a growing list of controversial exchanges between Big Apple media and the former Cleveland Indians draft pick. While Frazier has flashed success at the plate in 2019, logging a career-best 11 home runs and 30 RBI through 42 games, he's arguably made more headlines for his fielding blunders and run-ins with reporters.

"I know that it came out that I was ducking the media," he said before Tuesday's game, "but that wasn't what I am trying to do. I have owned up to my mistakes in the past, saying it shouldn't happen. You know, since I got traded over here, there have been stories that shouldn't have come out, have come out. And it's difficult, because the way I am perceived by people is not how I think I really am. Stories that shouldn't have been stories, have been stories."

Yankees radio broadcaster Suzyn Waldman erroneously suggested in April 2017 that Frazier requested to wear Mickey Mantle's retired jersey No. 7 upon being traded to the Yankees, while separate reports around the same time regarding his signature long red hair painted him as a "distraction" to Yankees traditions. As Deadspin noted, Frazier was also criticized by another team broadcaster in 2018 for not "getting healthy" following a concussion that wiped out most of his rookie season.