Athlete of the Week: Gabe Fraser

CHATHAM – Chatham Anglers third baseman Gabe Fraser (Florida State/transfer portal) went certifiably nuclear last week.

The barrage began with a two-homer, four-hit, six-RBI performance Thursday at Cotuit in a 17-2 Chatham win (seven innings due to mercy rule). Fraser went deep in the second, drove in two with a single in the fourth, hit a two-run homer in the fifth and hit an RBI double in the sixth. He scored four runs and amassed 11 total bases, launching to the top of Cape League offensive leaderboards in one fell swoop.

A big game became a huge weekend. The next night, Fraser’s RBI single in the bottom of the eighth proved to be the deciding run in a 5-4 win against the Brewster Whitecaps. 

On Saturday, Fraser went 3 for 3 with a double, an RBI and a run scored in a 6-4 win against the Falmouth Commodores (five innings due to lightning). He put the Anglers on the board first with a seeing-eye single and in his next two plate appearances still found base hits despite snapping his bat both times. 

The .731 slugging percentage (as of The Chronicle’s deadline) put up by Fraser across eight games leads the Cape. He ranks second overall by on-base plus slugging and third by average. The eight RBIs, all earned in a three-game span, are tied for the second-highest total among all players. His two home runs (with a wooden bat no less) have already eclipsed the one he hit in 38 games for Florida State this past spring.

Fraser, a rising junior who played his freshman year at Arkansas, was also named the Cape League’s Player of the Week, announced Sunday. A .643 batting average on balls in play (highest in the league) suggests Fraser has found some fortuitous infield holes and open patches of outfield grass, but either way, the stretch has unsurprisingly correlated with Chatham wins. The Anglers were 0-4 before Fraser’s massive output in Cotuit. They haven't lost in four games since (as of Tuesday).