How Yankees' Clint Frazier has been mentored by Brett Gardner

Yankees veteran outfielder’s Brett Gardner’s impact has been “huge” on highly touted outfielder Clint Frazier.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Clint Frazier stood next to Brett Gardner in left field Saturday and they talked.

Frazier didn’t get a chance to play in the weekend series against the Rays. Still, the highly regarded young outfielder seized chance after chance to soak up knowledge from Gardner, whom he called the Yankees‘ captain last year.

“He’s been huge to me,” Frazier said Sunday.

There have been so many stories of aging athletes brushing off players who could be seen as threatening their jobs.

Not the case with Gardner, 34, and Frazier, 23, even with Gardner in the final guaranteed year on his deal and Frazier on the rise.

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Any time Frazier has approached Gardner since getting traded from the Indians to the Yankees in 2016, Gardner has been more than helpful, Frazier said. He’s been a mentor.

“Sometimes it’s not only baseball conversations,” Frazier said. “It’s just conversations in general when him and I are having them and he’s helping me with maybe something I might have a question about. Gardy’s been huge to this team and huge to me and I think huge to a lot of the younger guys here just trying to get their feet set.”

Lately, Frazier has picked the Gold Glove-winning Gardner’s brain on defense. While Frazier’s bat could play in the majors right now, his defense has been at times questioned, and he got a concussion misjudging his distance from a wall and running into it during spring training. The concussion kept him out most of spring and April.

Frazier said he’s put an extra emphasis on his defense at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and he believes it’s paid off. He added that the Yankees letting him play center field Thursday may have been a testament to how far his glove has come.

Frazier credited studying Gardner for some of his improvement.

“I’ve been kind of the guy who sits back and kind of watches how he plays left field. Whenever I get a chance to go out there, I try to emulate him in ways,” Frazier said.

Frazier broke it down.

“Just the fact that sometimes whether he moves for a ball or not, there’s always intent, or a different intent behind it,” Frazier said. “Sometimes I catch myself in the outfield just running after a ball kind of nonchalantly but when he doesn’t move, he’s getting a mental rep. When he doesn’t move, he’s doing something, and I’m trying to pick up on things to make it easier whenever a ball is hit to me. We just talked sometimes about throwing to bases. I’ve done a good job this year trying to be more calm in the outfield and not throw erratically to bases.”

Frazier said Gardner’s “willingness” to spend time with him has been huge for him personally.

“We’ve had a lot of different guys of different ages in here and being one of the youngest guys, it’s sometimes harder for a young guy to approach a veteran,” Frazier said. “The willingness that he has to help me whenever I come to him is unmatched. It’s fun to be around.”

Brendan Kuty may be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @BrendanKutyNJ. Find NJ.com Yankees on Facebook.