Adam Frazier's mastery of strike zone lifts him to second in All-Star voting

Jun. 15—Adam Frazier is making a push to win a starting job in the All-Star Game on July 13 at Coors Field in Denver.

He is second among National League second basemen in the voting and third in the league overall with a .336 batting average after 64 games.

During the first phase of the voting, Frazier received 12% of the vote, behind Ozzie Albies of the Atlanta Braves (17%).

"This is a guy who is not a big guy (5-foot-10, 185 pounds), but he handles the strike zone," Pittsburgh Pirates manager Derek Shelton said of Frazier's average jumping 106 points since the end of last season. "The plate coverage comes from that old-school mentality where 'I'm going to grind out the at-bat. I'm going to put the ball in play.'

"We're going to see the game transition back to that, and Adam Frazier is ahead of it and that's why he's a good player."

Before Monday, Frazier led MLB with 85 hits and was tied with the Cincinnati Reds' Nick Castellanos with 23 doubles.

Injury update

Shelton said Colin Moran was "doing better" Monday after leaving the game Sunday in Milwaukee with lower back tightness.

"We'll get him moving around. It's a day-to-day thing as of right now," Shelton said.

Trevor Cahill is dealing with a calf injury for the second time since May 20 and remains on the injured list.

"We'll look at different ways to treat him and see how we can get him back healthy," Shelton said.

Cahill is not eligible to return until June 22.

Time to adapt

After Chad Kuhl complained about the difficulty in gripping the baseballs Saturday, Shelton said it was an issue for both teams.

"It was a situation where, I think, the balls were a little bit slick," he said. "But both teams had to deal with it. There is really nothing you can do but adapt and adjust."

Gamel's improvement

Ben Gamel had his first three-hit game of the season Sunday and first home run since Aug. 21, 2020, on Friday. His average was up to .243 before Monday's game.

"He's doing a better job of getting the ball up front. The contact point has been in a more consistent place," Shelton said. "That's translated into hitting the ball harder."

Jerry DiPaola is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Jerry by email at jdipaola@triblive.com or via Twitter .