OC Register: Angels’ David Fletcher continues to improve and impress teammates

[AngelsWin.com]

ANAHEIM >> Just after Joe Maddon memorably uttered the phrase Fletch-stein by way of making the oft-heard comparison between David Fletcher and former Angels shortstop David Eckstein, he then rattled off a few qualifiers.

“He’s got more pop,” Maddon said of Fletcher.

“His throwing arm is stronger.”

“He’s got more positional versatility.”

Given all that, and in light of Fletcher’s hot offensive start in his third big league season, perhaps the Eckstein comps have undersold Fletcher?

Eckstein had a career OPS+ of 87, which means as a hitter he was 13 percent worse than the average, adjusted for his ballpark, during those years.

Fletcher has a current career OPS+ of 98, which includes an 88 as a rookie, a 96 in his only full season and a sizzling 144 to start this shortened season. In traditional numbers, that’s a .303 average with an .882 OPS this season, and .287 and .730 for his career.

Of course, Fletcher still has a long way to go to match the quantity of Eckstein’s career. After breaking in with the Angels in 2001, Eckstein played 10 seasons in the majors, winning World Series rings with the Angels in 2002 and the St. Louis Cardinals in 2006. He made two All-Star teams.

Fletcher, 26, does have a two-year head start on Eckstein, who had barely made his big league debut at the age Fletcher is today.

Years from now we’ll know if Fletcher has surpassed Eckstein. In the meantime, he simply continues to raise his perceived ceiling. His defense has always been considered exceptional, but now he’s showing more at the plate too.

“In the quarantine I did some different things with my swing and my approach,” Fletcher said. “Nothing crazy, but I feel better than I did in spring training.”

Anthony Rendon has gotten his first look at Fletcher this year, and it didn’t take long for him to be sold.

“He looks natural at any position that he’s at, whether it’s third, short or second,” Rendon said. “He’s just a grinder out there.”

That’s when Rendon drew the “Captain America” comp to Fletcher.

“He’s like Mr. Baseball,” Rendon said. “It’s fun to be around, for sure.”

Fletcher replaced an injured Rendon at third for the first four games of the season, and then immediately shifted over to shortstop to replace Andrelton Simmons, who has been out with a sprained ankle.

“Wherever they put him at second, short, third left, I think you could put him behind the plate and he’ll do a decent job,” Simmons said. “He’ll do a good job really defensively and offensively you know he’s a thorn in a lot of pitchers’ fingers. He’s just a scrappy good hitter. We know what David Fletcher brings to the table every day. So, no surprises, really happy to see him be a spark plug now.”

So far Fletcher has been the ideal leadoff hitter for the Angels, thanks to an approach that has gotten more disciplined with each year in the big leagues.

He swung at 40.2 percent of pitches as a rookie, cut that 36.2 percent last year and has cut it to 33.1 percent this year. As a result, his walk rate has climbed from 4.9 percent to 8.4 percent to 12.4 percent, bringing his on-base percentage up steadily as well.

His current .382 on-base percentage is 51 points higher than the major league average out of the leadoff spot.

General manager Billy Eppler that Fletcher’s ability to make contact is so good that the Angels had to teach him to stop swinging at pitches just because he could hit them.

“The confidence he has an his ability to get the barrel to the baseball is extremely high,” Eppler said.

By getting Fletcher to swing at fewer pitches, they also give him a better chance to make hard contact with the the balls he hits, which could improve his power.

Fletcher already has three homers this year, which is half of his total from last season. So far it’s possible that it’s a fluke. His average exit velocity is the same as last year, and all three homers were well-placed fly balls of 365 feet or less.

Still, there’s a chance that the power is a bigger part of his game.

“Often times with players with good contact ability, power is the last thing to show up,” Eppler said. “I think players that had that type of profile and once they hit the 27, 28, 29, 30 age range, they end up hitting a higher rate of homers. That’s not something our expectation is for him, but it would not shock me if there’s that evolution.”

Whether the power comes or not, you aren’t going to find anyone around the Angels asking for anything more from Fletcher, especially not his manager.

Maddon admired Fletcher ever since he played against Maddon’s Cubs last April in Wrigley Field.

“It was love at first double,” Maddon said. “When he hit that high fastball down the left field line, I didn’t know who he was. I had no idea.”

Maddon then asked around to see if Fletcher was a top prospect, and he started following him more closely after the Angels finished playing the Cubs.

Since then, he’s grown to like what he sees more and more every day.

“He just never lets up,” Maddon said. “The guy is a baseball player. He’s the kind of guy that can be overlooked with today’s methods. I would take several more of those. We all would. He’s just a baseball player. He plays the game properly.”

ALSO

Simmons, who is out with a sprained ankle, had another workout on Thursday with the Angels reserves in Long Beach, getting live at-bats and running the bases. Eppler said Simmons “is still feeling it a little bit. I’m not entirely expecting him back for Game 1 or 2 of the Dodger series, but we’ll see how he feels Friday.” …

When Simmons returns, pushing Fletcher to be used at other positions, the Angels may face some tough lineup choices. Eppler said they don’t simply have to have one player lose playing time when Simmons returns. “You don’t have to just have one player for every single position,” Eppler said. “Play guys all over the place. It doesn’t have to be one guy in one place every single day. We’re going into an 18-game stretch (without an off day). That’s going to require rotations in all areas.” …

Eppler, who had not spoken publicly since Shohei Ohtani’s season as a pitcher was ended by a forearm injury, confirmed what Maddon had said last week. The organization plans to have Ohtani continue to be a two-way player in 2021. …

The Angels have added shortstop prospects Kyren Paris and Jeremiah Jackson to their player pool, allowing them to work out in Long Beach. Neither has played above Class-A, so neither is a candidate for the majors this year, but the Angels wanted to give them development opportunity even without any minor league games, Eppler said.

 

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[failos]

Captain America of baseball

[Chuck]

Great writeup, @Jeff Fletcher. 

I wonder if the Angels should explore a trade sending Simmons to a team that needs a SS before the deadline. Fletcher while not as wizard like as Simba at SS is pretty damn close iMO from what I've seen with my own eyes. 

The difference is the bat, Simba takes some of the most ugly swings and approaches at the plate most of the time. 

[OhtaniSan]

50 minutes ago, Chuckster70 said:

Great writeup, @Jeff Fletcher. 

I wonder if the Angels should explore a trade sending Simmons to a team that needs a SS before the deadline. Fletcher while not as wizard like as Simba at SS is pretty damn close iMO from what I've seen with my own eyes. 

The difference is the bat, Simba takes some of the most ugly swings and approaches at the plate most of the time. 

What kind of return do you think we could realistically get from trading Simmons?

[Blarg]

Without a team out there that needs a shortstop that is in the thick of the playoffs, Simmons has no trade value.  

[Chuck]

46 minutes ago, Blarg said:

Without a team out there that needs a shortstop that is in the thick of the playoffs, Simmons has no trade value.  

Things could change if a contending team loses their starting SS as it approaches the deadline. 

If that happens, I'll bet both of Adam's nuts that a team will give up a solid prospect in return for a gold glove SS. 

[Angelsjunky]

Seems like Fletch has replaced Calhoun as everyone’s second favorite Angel.