David Fletcher's Offense

[BTH]

David Fletcher's offense this season has been atrocious, and it can't be ignored.

Entering today, he was hitting .279/.312/.342 with a 81 wRC+ and 79 OPS+

The Angels need him to better next season. If teams have figured out how to shift against him, then he needs to change his approach and draw more walks or something.

Hitting for average, not getting on base, and hitting for no power doesn't cut it in 2021.

He plays tremendous defense, but he also plays 2B. It'd be one thing if he was playing tremendous defense at SS, where you pretty much only care about defense. At 2B, they need more production offensively from him.

He has been way below league average offensively this season. You'd even take average offensive production from him.

[jsnpritchett]

Fletcher's season:

60 games before his hitting streak: .255/.287/.294

26 games during hitting streak: .454/.468/.630

52 games since hitting streak ended: .218/.262/.250

[Blarg]

His last 23 games .184/.216/.204/.420. He has zero plate discipline currently and needs to cool his heels on the bench for awhile. 

[Angelsjunky]

I'm reminded a bit of when Jered Weaver signed that five-year contract that everyone thought was the Angels getting a "home town discount," and then Jered turned into Gumby and the contract ended up being bad.

The Fletcher contract is a bit like that in that we thought were getting a 3-4 WAR player for $6M a year. Now it looks like we're getting an expensive bench player.

Maybe a bit harsh, but his performance has dropped substantially from 2019-20.

[jsnpritchett]

2 minutes ago, Angelsjunky said:

I'm reminded a bit of when Jered Weaver signed that five-year contract that everyone thought was the Angels getting a "home town discount," and then Jered turned into Gumby and the contract ended up being bad.

The Fletcher contract is a bit like that in that we thought were getting a 3-4 WAR player for $6M a year. Now it looks like we're getting an expensive bench player.

Maybe a bit harsh, but his performance has dropped substantially from 2019-20.

2020 sure looks like an outlier season.  He only played 49 out of 60 games and obviously hit well above any level he'd established in 2018-2019.  While 2021 is certainly down from 2019, it's within the realm of reasonably possible outcomes when you compare it to 2018-19. 

I'm hoping for a rebound and more consistency next year, but not necessarily expecting it at this point.

[fan_since79]

8 minutes ago, jsnpritchett said:

Fletcher's season:

60 games before his hitting streak: .255/.287/.294

26 games during hitting streak: .454/.468/.630

52 games since hitting streak ended: .218/.262/.250

Okay that's just bizarre.

[Angelsjunky]

3 minutes ago, jsnpritchett said:

2020 sure looks like an outlier season.  He only played 49 out of 60 games and obviously hit well above any level he'd established in 2018-2019.  While 2021 is certainly down from 2019, it's within the realm of reasonably possible outcomes when you compare it to 2018-19. 

I'm hoping for a rebound and more consistency next year, but not necessarily expecting it at this point.

Yup. He's obviously streaky. 2020 just didn't include the down-swing. In fact, it is why the season was so wonky for a lot of players: it was too short to equalize.

I do think we can hope that he can recapture 2019, as you say. But the pipedream of him being a borderline star and possible batting champion was just that, it seems.

Still, 1.1 WAR this year. He's been a fringe regular.

[Angel Oracle]

is very offensive to Halos fans.

[Angelsjunky]

David Fletcher's offense is like a slightly below average wiener with no girth.

@cals?

Edited September 15, 2021 by Angelsjunky

[Angelsjunky]

Just now, cals said:

I was gonna say it’s like your CV.

That joke stopped being funny in the Obama era. You need new material. 

[greginpsca]

I guess the Angels should release Fletcher, and bring back Johnny Giavotella.

[Docwaukee]

teams have figured out that they don't really need to throw him a ball out of the strike zone because whatever he hits isn't all that dangerous.  

[ScottT]

6 hours ago, Angelsjunky said:

I'm reminded a bit of when Jered Weaver signed that five-year contract that everyone thought was the Angels getting a "home town discount," and then Jered turned into Gumby and the contract ended up being bad.

The Fletcher contract is a bit like that in that we thought were getting a 3-4 WAR player for $6M a year. Now it looks like we're getting an expensive bench player.

Maybe a bit harsh, but his performance has dropped substantially from 2019-20.

Albatross, for sure.

Poor Arte

[ScottT]

In all seriousness, I think he used to be more disciplined.  He's never walked much, but I think he is swinging at more balls outside the zone.   There's probably a website with that info 

[Stradling]

Upton offense is still better. 

[Jay]

Fletcher hit the jackpot, good for him.

Bad for the Angels though.

 

[Stradling]

We universally loved the deal for the Angels.  

[Angel Oracle]

Then he became Ray Oyler at the plate, discounting the 26 game hitting streak.   .550 OPS in the other 118 games 

[Stradling]

20 minutes ago, Angel Oracle said:

Then he became Ray Oyler at the plate, discounting the 26 game hitting streak.   .550 OPS in the other 118 games 

And Ohtani sucks if you take away 44 home runs. There’s zero reason to make it worse than it is by taking away 20-25% of the season.  

[Docwaukee]

1 hour ago, Stradling said:

We universally loved the deal for the Angels.  

I remember thinking it was a fair deal for both sides.  

[Lou]

Look at the bright side. He's only making $2M this year.

[Inside Pitch]

17 hours ago, Trendon said:

David Fletcher's offense this season has been atrocious, and it can't be ignored.

Entering today, he was hitting .279/.312/.342 with a 81 wRC+ and 79 OPS+

The Angels need him to better next season. If teams have figured out how to shift against him, then he needs to change his approach and draw more walks or something.

Hitting for average, not getting on base, and hitting for no power doesn't cut it in 2021.

He plays tremendous defense, but he also plays 2B. It'd be one thing if he was playing tremendous defense at SS, where you pretty much only care about defense. At 2B, they need more production offensively from him.

He has been way below league average offensively this season. You'd even take average offensive production from him.

I agree the dude needs to do better -- if nothing else, he needs to milk a walk every now and then.  But there is little question the team would be in a much better place if everyone else played defense at his levels...and like everyone else his defense has suffered due to poor defensive alignments.

A team can live with less than ideal offense at 2B providing the defense is stellar, but it cant turn around and undermine that value by shooting itself in the foot the way the Angels have.

[Inside Pitch]

6 hours ago, ScottT said:

In all seriousness, I think he used to be more disciplined.  He's never walked much, but I think he is swinging at more balls outside the zone.   There's probably a website with that info 

You are correct

Season	Team	Level	O-Swing%	Z-Swing%	Swing%	O-Contact%	Z-Contact%	Contact%	Zone%	Pace
2018	LAA	MLB	23.9%	52.9%	40.2%	77.2%	96.0%	91.1%	56.2%
2019	LAA	MLB	22.2%	48.5%	36.3%	78.7%	95.9%	91.0%	53.6%
2020	LAA	MLB	25.1%	47.5%	37.1%	83.0%	96.1%	92.0%	53.4%
2021	LAA	MLB	30.2%	59.0%	46.6%	79.8%	95.7%	91.2%	56.7%
Total	- - -	MLB	25.2%	52.4%	40.1%	79.4%	95.9%	91.2%	54.9%

He's swinging more at everything.   In the zone, out of the zone.  

[Stradling]

14 minutes ago, Inside Pitch said:

I agree the dude needs to do better -- if nothing else, he needs to milk a walk every now and then.  But there is little question the team would be in a much better place if everyone else played defense at his levels...and like everyone else his defense has suffered due to poor defensive alignments.

A team can live with less than ideal offense at 2B proving the defense is stellar, but it cant turn around and undermine that value by shooting itself in the foot the way the Angels have.

Do you think the team would be better defensively and give up fewer runs if they never shifted and played straight up?  My guess is no, because there HAS to be a reason to shift every fucking batter. 

[Inside Pitch]

2 minutes ago, Stradling said:

Do you think the team would be better defensively and give up fewer runs if they never shifted and played straight up?  My guess is no, because there HAS to be a reason to shift every fucking batter. 

No, the shift isn't the problem so much as when they have been shifting and how they have set the shifts up relative to the batter's actual tendencies.

Shifting WORKS...  But like anything else, if you use it wrong bad things happen.