TAMPA — Wednesday morning Clint Frazier painted a concerning picture of the concussion he has been dealing with since Saturday night. However, by later in the day the left fielder was much improved and participated in hitting drills.
“This morning was weird, but I took 25 swings and it’s significantly different,’’ Frazier said during the Yankees’ 9-6 loss to the Tigers at George M. Steinbrenner Field.
That was a far cry from the morning.
“I can’t even sit in my living room without feeling like s–t. I can’t shake the headaches. I pretty much had a headache the whole day [Tuesday]. It’s like a pressure in the front part of my head,’’ Frazier said.
Frazier admitted to not being completely over the symptoms of his first-ever concussion, but described improvement.
“I am headed in a better direction than I was this morning,’’ he said.
Frazier took 25 swings — five off a tee and 20 on front flips — Wednesday and might hit in the batting cages Thursday.
“It’s just a matter of getting that slight symptom [headache] out of the way,’’ Frazier said. “Once that is out of the way I’ll take BP for two days and then a game.’’
Frazier hit his head against the left-field fence at the end of making a catch while falling down in Bradenton but remained in the game.
Asked if there was thought about removing Frazier from the game as a precaution, manager Aaron Boone said there was but Frazier didn’t complain of a problem until later that night.
“Once we checked him initially right there we felt good about [him], what did he play, another couple of innings?’’ Boone said. “When he came in after that he was fine. I think the symptoms probably started later that evening and into the next morning.’’
Boone explained that Frazier was tested during the game.
“On the spot I believe there was at least, probably not the baseline that you would normally have, but we were comfortable how we checked him out,’’ Boone said. “There wasn’t anything in the immediate right there that suggested to get him out of the game.’’