Frazier's glove looking like gold so far for Chicago White Sox

The Chicago White Sox had to pay a pretty steep price to pry Todd Frazier away from the Cincinnati Reds in December.

In a three-way trade, the Sox sent three of their best young players - outfielder Trayce Thompson, pitcher Frankie Montas and second baseman Micah Johnson - to the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The White Sox took some heat for trading three future pieces for a veteran that tailed way off in the second half last season, but they needed a power bat and they needed a proven cleanup hitter to protect Jose Abreu.

Frazier has gotten off to a slow start with the bat, but he did hit his fourth home run of the season Thursday in the Sox's 3-2 loss to the Angels.

As a somewhat added bonus, Frazier has played the best defensive third base since Joe Crede suited up for the White Sox from 2000-08.

"Certainly, the offense is probably the calling card," general manager Rick Hahn said. "But you are talking about a guy who also was a Gold Glove finalist (with the Reds last year) and one of the better defensive third basemen in the game, depending on which metric you trust, over the last several years.

"While certainly the offense has been a priority, we didn't want to lose sight of some of the defensive issues we've had in the recent past. This move helped us both offensively and defensively at a difficult position to fill."

Frazier has been a real find with the glove, and he seems to make a highlight play or two in every game.

"I know in this series, it seemed like I got more ground balls than I do in a season," Frazier said after the White Sox and Angels split a four-game set at U.S. Cellular Field. "But I like that. I take a lot of pride in my defense, it's something I work on a lot, and I want the ball coming to me."

When the ball has come Frazier's way, he's stayed cool and made plays. Sox manager Robin Ventura, who won six Gold Gloves at third base during his playing days, is already a big fan.

"He's done a lot of things over there that are smart," Ventura said. "I look at it probably differently than other people, but just seeing what he does over there, moving around, he's never really standing in place at one time. He also has nice range. I think he has good reflexes and reactions to get difficult balls. He does a lot of things well over there."

Looking ahead:

While the White Sox are off to a promising start at 10-6, Alex Avila said it is way too early to get excited.

"You want to get off to a good start, but I've always been a firm believer in you want to finish strong," said Avila, who went to the playoffs with the Detroit Tigers four straight years (2011-14). "That's the most important thing. I know everybody always talked about getting off to a good start here, but that's one thing I was always cautious about, making sure guys didn't put too much pressure on themselves to get those early wins.

"You just basically have to play your game, keep pace, and after that all-star break you want to make sure you're still playing good baseball."