William Patrick Fraser (born May 26, 1964) is an American former professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or dr ...

. He pitched all or parts of eight seasons in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (A ...

(MLB) between and . Fraser played for the

California Angels The Los Angeles Angels are an American professional baseball team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Angels compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. Since 1966, the team ...

Toronto Blue Jays The Toronto Blue Jays are a Canadian professional baseball team based in Toronto. The Blue Jays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Since 1989, the team has played its home games ...

, St. Louis Cardinals, Florida Marlins, and

Montreal Expos The Montreal Expos (french: link=no, Les Expos de Montréal) were a Canadian professional baseball team based in Montreal, Quebec. The Expos were the first Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise located outside the United States. They played in ...

. Following his major league career, he played for three seasons with the Orix BlueWave in Japan's

Nippon Professional Baseball or NPB is the highest level of baseball in Japan. Locally, it is often called , meaning ''Professional Baseball''. Outside Japan, it is often just referred to as "Japanese baseball". The roots of the league can be traced back to the formation ...

(NPB).

Career

Fraser grew up a

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. They are one ...

fan in

Newburgh, New York Newburgh is a city in the U.S. state of New York, within Orange County. With a population of 28,856 as of the 2020 census, it is a principal city of the Poughkeepsie–Newburgh–Middletown metropolitan area. Located north of New York City, a ...

, and graduated from Newburgh Free Academy in 1982. He played

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. In comparison to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a smaller role in developing professional pl ...

NCAA Division II NCAA Division II (D-II) is an intermediate-level division of competition in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). It offers an alternative to both the larger and better-funded Division I and to the scholarship-free environmen ...

at Concordia College in

Bronxville, New York Bronxville is a Administrative divisions of New York#Village, village in Westchester County, New York, Westchester County, New York (state), New York, United States, located approximately north of Midtown Manhattan. It is part of the Administ ...

, where he developed a forkball which drew comparisons to future Hall of Famer

Bruce Sutter Howard Bruce Sutter (; January 8, 1953 – October 13, 2022) was an American professional baseball pitcher who played 12 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) between 1976 and 1988. He was one of the sport's dominant relievers in the late 1970 ...

's. The California Angels selected him with the fifteenth pick in the

1985 MLB draft First round draft picks The following are the first round picks in the 1985 Major League Baseball draft. Supplemental First Round Selections Background Six of the first eight draft picks from the June regular phase had at least one full ...

, ahead of future Hall of Famers Randy Johnson and John Smoltz. He was assigned to the Quad Cities Angels of the

Midwest League The Midwest League is a Minor League Baseball league established in 1947 and based in the Midwestern United States. A Class A league for most of its history, the league was promoted to High-A as part of Major League Baseball's 2021 reorganiza ...

to begin his professional career. Fraser made his Major League debut in a start with the Angels on September 10, 1986, at Cleveland Stadium against the Indians. It was his only Major League appearance that year. Blyleven spent most of the next two seasons in the starting rotation but was moved to the

bullpen In baseball, the bullpen (or simply the pen) is the area where relief pitchers warm up before entering a game. A team's roster of relief pitchers is also metonymically referred to as "the bullpen". These pitchers usually wait in the bullpen if t ...

after the Angels traded for future Hall of Fame pitcher Bert Blyleven following the 1988 season. He had led the league in

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

s allowed in 1988. After two years in California's bullpen, Fraser was traded to Toronto with Marcus Moore and Devon White in exchange for

Junior Félix Junior Francisco Félix Sánchez (born ) is a Dominican former professional baseball player who played in Major League Baseball as an outfielder from –. Baseball records list his date of birth in October 1967, but the California Angels and Flo ...

Luis Sojo Luis Beltrán Sojo Sojo ( ; ; born January 3, 1965) is a Venezuelan former professional baseball infielder. Listed during his playing days at and , he batted and threw right-handed. During his Major League Baseball (MLB) career, Sojo filled a ...

and a

player to be named later In Major League Baseball, a player to be named later (PTBNL) is an unnamed player involved in exchange or "trade" of players between teams. The terms of a trade are not finalized until a later date, most often following the conclusion of the seaso ...

. Fraser pitched in thirteen games for the Blue Jays before being placed on waivers and picked up by the St. Louis Cardinals where he finished the 1991 season. He spent all of 1992 and 1993 in Triple-A with the Edmonton Trappers and

Toledo Mud Hens The Toledo Mud Hens are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the Detroit Tigers. They are located in Toledo, Ohio, and play their home games at Fifth Third Field. A Mud Hens team has played in ...

respectively. He returned to the majors in each of the following years with nine appearances for the Florida Marlins in 1994 and twenty-two with the Montreal Expos in 1995. In 1996, Fraser began a three-year stint in

as a key addition to the Orix BlueWave. He won the second-most games for the club en route to a

1996 Japan Series The 1996 Japan Series was the Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) championship series for the 1996 season. It was the 47th Japan Series and featured the Pacific League champions, the Orix BlueWave, against the Central League champions, the Yomiur ...

victory led by

Troy Neel Troy Lee Neel (born September 14, 1965) is an American former professional baseball player. After a solid start in Major League Baseball (MLB), Neel moved to Japan and compiled strong numbers in six seasons playing in Nippon Professional Baseball ...

and

Ichiro Suzuki , also known mononymously as , is a Japanese former professional baseball outfielder who played professionally for 28 seasons. He played nine years of his career with the Orix BlueWave of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB), where he began hi ...

. He played in his last professional game on September 24, 1998, in Japan for Orix. After retirement, Fraser worked for an independent company

scouting Scouting, also known as the Scout Movement, is a worldwide youth Social movement, movement employing the Scout method, a program of informal education with an emphasis on practical outdoor activities, including camping, woodcraft, aquatics, hik ...

players in Japan and the United States. He then became an advance scout for the Angels and, in 2014, began working as an advance scout for the

Los Angeles Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League West, West division. Established in 1883 i ...

. In 2018, he was working as a scout for the

Miami Marlins The Miami Marlins are an American professional baseball team based in Miami. The Marlins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East division. The club's home ballpark is LoanDepot Park. The fra ...

and conducting baseball clinics for children in places such as the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, Ireland and Honduras. , he was a scout for the

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as part of the National League (NL) Central division. The club plays its home games at Wrigley Field, which is locate ...

. The Cubs parted ways with Fraser following the 2021 season.

Personal life

, Fraser lived in

Hopewell Junction, New York Hopewell Junction is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in Dutchess County, New York, United States. The population was 1330 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Poughkeepsie– Newburgh– Middletown, NY Metropolitan Statistic ...

. He and his wife, Jeannie, have two adult sons.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fraser, Willie 1964 births Living people American expatriate baseball players in Canada American expatriate baseball players in Japan Baseball players from New York (state) California Angels players Chicago Cubs scouts Concordia Clippers baseball players Edmonton Trappers players Florida Marlins players Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim scouts Los Angeles Dodgers scouts Major League Baseball pitchers Miami Marlins scouts Montreal Expos players Nippon Professional Baseball pitchers Orix BlueWave players Ottawa Lynx players Palm Springs Angels players Parma Baseball Club players Quad Cities Angels players Sportspeople from Newburgh, New York St. Louis Cardinals players Syracuse Chiefs players Toledo Mud Hens players Toronto Blue Jays players Newburgh Free Academy alumni