Toms River East Little Leaguer Makes Good

I first met Todd Frazier in the summer of 1995 when I followed the Toms River East American All-Stars to the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, where his brother Jeff was one of the stars of that team. Todd was 9 and already making a name for himself in a family of three boys who would all have storied athletic careers. He looked a bit like Huck Finn and what I remember most about him that August was how he and my son would slide down the hills in the outfield on cardboard boxes…a Williamsport tradition. Ironically that also began a friendship between the two which continues today…a day that’s been circled on the calendar for some time in the Frazier home.

Baseball will hold its First-Year Player Draft at Disney’s Wide World of Sports complex in Florida with the first round to be televised live on ESPN2 at 2pm. It’s possible that before the opening round is concluded Todd Frazier’s name will be called but if not…it won’t be too long after that.

That 9-year old with the toothy grin has grown into one of the nation’s best players and he told me yesterday he’s excited about beginning his pro career. This is nothing new to the Frazier Family as oldest son Charlie was drafted by the Marlins organization out of high school and Jeff was taken by the Tigers following his junior year at Rutgers. Charlie is now out of baseball and working and coaching in the Toms River School district while Jeff is playing Double-A for the Seattle Mariners.

However many felt all along that Todd was the one with the greatest major league potential and his path to today has been littered with gold. By the time he was 12 he had already led his Toms River East American All-Stars to the Little League World Series Championship with a win over Japan which set off a wild celebration in Ocean County. But that was not as he quarterbacked his Pop Warner team to a national championship, won the national Punt, Pass and Kick Competition in his age group and was a standout basketball player.

Success continued at Toms River South where he helped the Indians win a pair of State Baseball Championships and scored over a 1,000 points on the basketball court. Three great seasons followed at Rutgers where he was an All-American shortstop this spring, the Big East Player of the Year and among 20 finalists for the National Player of the Year.

That leads us to today where Todd is likely to be taken in what’s called the Supplemental First Round. A lifelong Red Sox fan he told me his agent has heard quite a bit from both San Diego and Cincinnati….the Reds have the 34th and 53rd overall picks while the Padres have 5 picks between 40-64.

Most of the players drafted today will never make it out of the minor leagues. However don’t bet against Todd Frazier unless you don’t mind paying up in a few years.