David Fletcher is impossibly hard to pitch to

David Fletcher is one of the most fascinating players in baseball today.

From a sheer value standpoint, Fletcher has been one of the better position players in baseball since he debuted in June of 2018. Since that time, Fletcher is the 43rd-best position player by Fangraphs Wins Above Replacement (6.8), sandwiched around names such as Ozzie Albies, Max Kepler, Matt Olson, and Marcell Ozuna. By fWAR, he’s been better than Jose Altuve, J.D. Martinez, and Tommy Pham. With exactly league average offensive production (100 wRC+) and above-average defense at multiple positions, Fletcher has acted like the swiss army knife for the Angels, adding immense value in the process.

I could spend the rest of this article talking about how Fletcher has improved his batting average, on-base percentage, and slugging percentage in each of his seasons. That’s certainly a warranted discussion to have! Instead, I’m going to talk about the utterly freakish anomaly that David Fletcher is. I won’t rehash all of the numbers in-depth but you know about the annual rising strikeout rates and home run rates in the game. Very few players are immune to these massive changes that have altered the aesthetic of the game. Fletcher, however, really is in a company of his own.

Fletcher is the game’s premier bat-to-ball hitter. There aren’t many guys you could realistically throw an 80-hit tool on in the game right now. Fletcher might make it on that short list. The 26-year-old Fletcher has hit for average everywhere he’s been. Fletcher hit .318 with a 9.3 strikeout percentage in two collegiate seasons at Loyola Marymount. He hit .294 with a 10.2 strikeout percentage in four minor league seasons. He’s hit .292 with a 10.3 strikeout percentage in his first 283 MLB games. Since debuting in 2018, only two players (minimum 1000 PA) have a lower strikeout rate than Fletcher’s 10.3 mark. Fletcher has three of the top-5 individual seasons (minimum 200 PA) by whiff rates in that time. This is a track record of undeniable contact abilities, some that were probably overlooked by scouts and people within the game.

Nobody has made more contact than Fletcher since coming into the league. Since 2018, no player has posted a higher contact rate than Fletcher (91.3 percent). Only him and Michael Brantley are above 90 percent. Fletcher ranks second only to Brantley in in-zone contact rate (96 percent) and no player has made more contact on pitches out of the zone (83.5 percent). It’s simply difficult to pitch to a guy who makes this kind of contact and garners good results from it. Furthermore, he also isn’t a super-swing happy guy who flailing at everything just to make contact. In that same timeframe, only three players (Alex Bregman, Mike Trout, Brett Gardner) have a lower swing rate than Fletcher (37.4 percent). This is a guy who knows what he wants to do at the plate.

Because of these outrageous bat-to-ball skills, Fletcher has made contact on pitches that very few others have the ability to do. These are some of the crazy pitches that Fletcher hasn’t just managed to put the bat on but actually turn these pitches into positive results.

How about this pitch low-and-away?

What about a 95 mph heater well above the top of the zone?

This next one is quite impressive. Nearly pulling an 83 mph change-up way in on the hands for a home run is hard to do.

But this final one is the wildest one of them all, a pitch that no hitter has any business making contact with.

Just to really emphasize that last one, here’s the side angle of that ball Fletcher turned into a double.

This became a recurring theme in the shortened 2020 season. It felt like Fletcher was doing this every night. There’s a preternatural ability to put the bat on pitches that are either supposed to be chase pitches or total waste pitches. Unlike the many other players who make contact on pitches like this, however, Fletcher does have a good eye at the plate. It’s hard to pitch to a guy who can not only make contact on pitches like these but has also cranked up his walk rate from 4.9 percent in 2018 to 8.7 percent in 2020.

This is who David Fletcher is. He’s the diminutive 5-foot-9-inch infielder who despite his career .386 slugging percentage, is one of the better and more underrated position players in the game. Not only can Fletcher get lost in the shuffle across the sport but he’s even overshadowed by members of his own team. That’ll happen when you play with the generational talent in Mike Trout, a top-10 position player in Anthony Rendon, and the electric two-way play of Shohei Ohtani.

Make no mistake about it though. David Fletcher is an extremely good player, one who has an absurdly good talent to make contact with any pitch in any zone.

19 Comments
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GrandpaBaseball
Legend
3 years ago

There is very few that compare to Vladdy Daddy. Fletcher has been my pick for greatness from his first hit on. He leads the team in Doubles and hits for two straight seasons and he fields the ball like no other second baseman. The last two off season’s many here have written about trades involving Fletch and I always say in response “Hold the phone there.” This season David just might beat Trouty out in Runs Scored too. Fletcher has done it the Old Fashioned way, he earnnnned it.

Jeff Joiner
Editor
Legend
3 years ago

Great piece. I love a guy who puts the ball in play. Good things generally happen.

Fletcher is a guy your dad loves to watch play. A guy I know Vic really enjoyed covering.

red floyd
Legend
3 years ago

Loyola Marymount! Woo-hoo! Go Lions!!!

[current LMU grad student]

matthiasstephan
Super Member
3 years ago

So, are we counting four potential All-Stars within the position players? That isn’t typical Angels (or done often ever).

Fansince1971
Legend
3 years ago
Reply to  Brent Maguire

If Fletch could get the nod over El Trashcan errrr El Wired Up errrr El Don’t Rip Off My Jersey Altuve, I would be thrilled.

WallyChuckChili
Legend
3 years ago
Reply to  Fansince1971

But Altuve is “Pretty Good”

Eric_in_Portland
Legend
3 years ago

two occasions come to mind when thinking about multiple all-stars from the same team. I forget the year but MLB opened up the voting to fans and the NL was all Cincinnati Reds. Ah, here we go.

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/13168334/1957-cincinnati-fans-stacked-all-star-team-too

In 1963 the players voted and the NL infield was all Cardinals.

red floyd
Legend
3 years ago

1977 or 78 the NL starting line up was all Doyers

Angels2020Champs
Legend
3 years ago

Nice piece. He reminds me of a more talented Eckstein, and I believe thats saying a lot.

Cowboy26
Legend
3 years ago
Reply to  Brent Maguire

Also from a defensive standpoint, my deceptive eye tells me he seems to have more range and a stronger arm than the Mighty Eck.

Angels2020Champs
Legend
3 years ago
Reply to  Cowboy26

Thanks for those stats. Impressive strikeout rates for each. My only qualification for making that statement is my eyes… fletcher seems more smooth, I always thought the runner was going to beat an eckstein throw.

Fansince1971
Legend
3 years ago

Love to open this site and see content about Fletch!

Fletch has been my favorite Angel player almost from the very beginning of his career. He is a gutty, old school, hard-nose baseball player with unbelievable hand eye coordination. There is no one who tries harder or practices more. I was lucky enough to have the chance to be in the underground batting cage before a game in 2019 and watched Fletch take swing after swing after swing – making solid contact on everything.

So many professional athletes have God-given skills and many take them for granted. That is not Fletch. He has worked harder for everything. He is one of the reasons the 2018-2020 seasons were bearable.

I look forward to every AB and also love to watch him as a defender. He is the definition of giving 125% and as a result has endeared himself to his coaches, teammates and fans.

steelgolf
Super Member
3 years ago

Fletcher is probably my favorite player on the team. My son and I discuss Fletcher’s play on both sides of the ball and how he can emulate him in little league to help his team win games. See your pitch, make contact, get on base. Defensively, know the situation and where you will be going if the ball comes to you or a team mate. My son has a ball signed by Fletcher too.

Jim Atkins
Super Member
3 years ago

So who else had Vladdy flashbacks with those videos? Fletch has a better strikeout rate then Vlad did, though. Never seen a batter like him, ever. The man is utterly determined to build himself into a synthetic freak of nature.

hockey_duckie
Member
3 years ago
Reply to  Jim Atkins

Big Daddy Vladdy had a zone of “from his nose to his toes”, including balls bouncing off the ground before home plate. But that ball hit way above Fletch’s head and turned it into a double is redonkulous!