Clint Frazier is on the 10-day injured list with vertigo, three years after a concussion hampered him an entire season.
The 26-year-old New York Yankees outfielder left Wednesday’s game against the Los Angeles Angels in the third inning because of dizziness.
‘He’s really going through a battery of tests, really been going through it all day," manager Aaron Boone said before Friday night's Subway Series opener with the Mets was rained out at Yankee Stadium.
New York filled the roster spot with outfielder Tim Locastro, obtained a day earlier from Arizona for right-hander Keegan Curtis. With Aaron Hicks out for the season, New York has been using Aaron Judge in center field along with Brett Gardner.
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The 28-year-old Locastro hit .178 with one homer and five RBIs in 118 at-bats this season.
“We love his speed and his athleticism and his ability to really defend in the outfield, right now see him in there probably against lefties out in center field, sharing that with Gardy, certainly coming in off the bench, another guy with big-time speed and can go play defense in the outfield, especially when we have leads in trying to close down a game," Boone said.
Given the starting left field job before spring training, Frazier slumped to a .186 average, five homers and 15 RBIs in 183 at-bats and lost playing time to Gardner and Miguel Andújar.
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Frazier sustained a concussion on Feb. 24, 2018, when he hit an outfield wall during a spring training game against Pittsburgh at Bradenton, Florida. Symptoms lingered and he was limited to 15 major league games and 54 in the minors.
Frazier said the following spring training he was over the concussion.
“I feel a difference in my quality of life, just the happiness whenever I wake up that I’m finally through the hard times that I was going through then,” Frazier said then. “Now it’s just like, I feel like a new person on the field. You appreciate the things that are very simple tasks in life that get taken away from you whenever something happens.”
Acquired from Cleveland on July 31, 2016, in the deal that sent reliever Andrew Miller to the Indians, Frazier hit .267 with 12 homers and 38 RBIs in 2019, then hit .267 with eight homers and 26 RBIs in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season.
The Yankees had what appeared to be the first full house on hand since 2019 when they postponed the game after a 90-minute wait.
Jordan Montgomery (3-2, 4.06) of the Yankees was pushed back from Friday to Saturday.
Gerrit Cole (8-4, 2.66) will pitch one of Sunday's games for the Yankees. He was originally scheduled to pitch the series opener before Thursday's game against the Los Angeles Angels was washed out.
Michael King and Nelson Cortes Jr. are possible for the other game.
The Mets will start Taijuan Walker (6-3, 2.38) on Saturday, Marcus Stroman (6-6, 2.45), activated from the bereavement list, is to start on Sunday afternoon and Tylor Megill (0-0, 4.82) on Sunday night.
The Yankees are trying to rebound from a brutal loss to the Angels on Wednesday, when they scored seven runs in the first inning and allowed seven in the ninth, losing 11-8.
Judge called a players-only meeting on Tuesday to discuss the team's struggles, a session owner Hal Steinbrenner called “probably the most fiery, if that's the right word, of the other ones had been had during the season, and that's a good thing.”
“There's a lot of buzz around us right now, not all for good reason, obviously,” Boone said.
STRUGGLING CHAPMAN
Aroldis Chapman had a four-run lead, walked three batters and allowed Jared Walsh's grand slam in the loss to the Angels.
“I think there might be some more situations where I'm willing to get him in there on a given day," Boone said. “Still, if we have a chance to close out a game tonight I expect him to be out there. I do think there's been a couple of these outings in the last several where he's just been I think a little out of line delivery-wise.”
Left-hander Zack Britton (hamstring) is to throw off a mound Saturday.
NIMMO RETURNS
Brandon Nimmo was activated from the injured list by the Mets after he missed two months because of a detached hand ligament. Nimmo had been set to bat leadoff and play center field.
“I'm excited about the ability to get on base and giving us the chance to sequence quality at-bats,” Mets manager Luis Rojas said.
He hit .172 (5 for 29) with a double and no RBIs during a nine-game injury rehabilitation assignment with Triple-A Syracuse.
Right-hander Jeurys Familia and catcher Tomas Nido were activated from the 10-day injured list along with Nimmo.
Left-hander David Peterson was placed on the 10-day injured list with right side soreness, a move retroactive to Thursday. He left Wednesday night’s start at Atlanta after three innings because of pain.
Right-hander Thomas Szapucki, catcher Patrick Mazeika, infielder Travis Blankenhorn were optioned to Triple-A Syracuse.
Infielder Jonathan Villar (strained right calf) is likely to be activated Saturday or Sunday.
METS TRADE
Left-hander Anthony Banda was obtained by the Mets from San Francisco for minor league infielder Will Toffey. The 27-year-old Banda was assigned to Syracuse. He is 3-2 with a 6.86 ERA at Triple-A Sacramento this season and has a 4-3 record and 5.96 ERA in five major league starts and 13 relief appearances, with Arizona in 2017 and Tampa Bay from 2018-20.
Toffey hit .178 with six homers and 16 RBIs this year for Double-A Binghamton.
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