OC Register: Angels’ David Fletcher looks to put injury-marred 2022 behind him

[AngelsWin.com]

TEMPE, Ariz. — The Angels have another infielder looking for a comeback season.

Like Anthony Rendon, David Fletcher also endured a season lost to injury in 2022. While there isn’t the same narrative about Fletcher bouncing back to live up to a huge contract, he nonetheless would like to again be the player he was a couple years ago.

“That’s my expectation,” said Fletcher, who is in the mix for everyday playing time at shortstop in 2022. “My expectation of myself is to hit around .300 and play good defense.”

Fletcher hit .319 in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, his third consecutive season of improved offensive numbers, earning a five-year, $26-million deal heading into 2021.

And 2021 started off well, including a 26-game hitting streak and a .315 average in late July. But Fletcher finished 2021 with a six-week stretch hitting .150 and then saw his 2022 season ruined by injuries.

He felt a core muscle tear in spring training and played through it for more than a month before succumbing to surgery, which cost him nearly three months. In September, he was hit on the hand by a pitch and tried to play through that even though he clearly couldn’t swing at all.

“It was the first year I was really hurt a lot, had a major injury,” Fletcher said. “It sucked not being able to play, but it’s nice to come in this year healthy. Hopefully that’s the only year that I’m injured.”

Manager Phil Nevin said that he’s noticed Fletcher, 28, looking a little stronger this year, the result of extra time in the gym. Fletcher joked that it’s “just a tight shirt.” He said he’s not trying to change anything.

There is a part of his game that has clearly changed over the past two years.

From 2018-20, when Fletcher produced a .292 average and .732 OPS, he swung at 37.4% of the pitches he saw, including 26.4% of pitches that were out of the strike zone.

In 2021-22, he swung at 46.8% of pitches, including 33.4% of pitches out of the zone. He has hit .260 with a .622 OPS in those two seasons.

“I think swinging at good pitches is obviously everyone’s goal,” Fletcher said. “I feel like if it’s a pitch in the zone, I can hit it. I want to hit it. Obviously if it’s out of the zone, I’d rather take it, but some of those I can hit too.”

Fletcher’s blessing and curse is exceptional bat-to-ball skills that allow him to get to pitches that many other hitters miss. The problem comes when he puts some of those pitches into play for weak outs, especially before there are two strikes.

Nevin shrugged at the notion of trying to change too much about Fletcher’s approach at the plate.

“I don’t want him to change,” Nevin said. “He goes up there and hacks and wails. He’s not going to walk a lot, but if he’s getting hits, it’s the same thing.”

Nevin pointed out that Fletcher could boost his batting average by bunting more. In September, when Fletcher played with a sore hand, he couldn’t swing at all and he dropped down two bunt hits.

“He got two bunt hits when everyone in the ballpark knew he was going to bunt,” Nevin said. “Think about that when he’s healthy. That can move guys around the infield and create more holes and create more spots for hits when he’s swinging away too. That’s another thing we’ve talked about with him too.”

Mostly though, Nevin said his hope for Fletcher being more productive is health and strength. The stronger he is, the more likely he is to be able to punch balls through the infield or into the gaps.

“I think with health, he’s going to be a lot better,” Nevin said. “I think he’s back to where he was before. He’s stronger. There’s no doubt about that. He spent a lot of time this winter working on his body which, quite frankly, he may not have done as much so in the past and he hasn’t had to, but you get to certain points in your career where you got to make some changes in the offseason. I think he recognized that.”

If Fletcher can produce like he did from 2018-20, he would be a boost for an Angels lineup that is otherwise without an established everyday shortstop. As of now, the Angels have Fletcher and Luis Rengifo looking to get most of the time at shortstop, with either player also able to play second base. The Angels also have Gio Urshela, who will get some time at shortstop.

NOTES

Right-hander Griffin Canning threw his first live batting practice session of the spring. Canning, who missed all of last season with a back injury, is in the running for the Angels’ sixth starter spot. “I’m feeling great,” Canning said. “That’s probably the best I’ve felt in a while. I’m pretty excited. That was my first live BP in a long time.” …

The Angels moved some of their workouts into Tempe Diablo Stadium, instead of their minor-league complex, in preparation for the start of exhibition games this weekend. …

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For the Angels’ spring training opener Saturday, they will start Urshela at third, Fletcher at shortstop, Rengifo at second and Kevin Padlo at first. Jo Adell, Brett Phillips and Mickey Moniak will be in the outfield. Matt Thaiss will be the catcher. Left-hander Tucker Davidson will pitch. Other regulars like Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani are expected to play their first game when the Angels are at home Sunday. …

Japanese right-hander Shintaro Fujinami will start for the Oakland A’s on Tuesday against the Angels. Ohtani will be starting that day for the Angels, the only game he will pitch for the Angels before leaving for the World Baseball Classic.

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[BTH]

1 hour ago, AngelsWin.com said:

Nevin shrugged at the notion of trying to change too much about Fletcher’s approach at the plate.

“I don’t want him to change,” Nevin said. “He goes up there and hacks and wails. He’s not going to walk a lot, but if he’s getting hits, it’s the same thing.”

If he’s replacing walks with singles, I guess it’s the same thing.

But if he’s replacing walks with outs, that’s not the same thing.

I get he’s not gonna walk a ton, but I’d like to see him get closer to the 8.5% BB% he had from 2019-2020 than the 4.3% BB% he had in 2021-2022.

[Blarg]

1 hour ago, AngelsWin.com said:

“I think swinging at good pitches is obviously everyone’s goal,” Fletcher said. “I feel like if it’s a pitch in the zone, I can hit it. I want to hit it. Obviously if it’s out of the zone, I’d rather take it, but some of those I can hit too.”

Holy shit, Phil Neven is a disciple of Micky Hatcher.

[BTH]

1 hour ago, AngelsWin.com said:

And 2021 started off well, including a 26-game hitting streak and a .315 average in late July. But Fletcher finished 2021 with a six-week stretch hitting .150 and then saw his 2022 season ruined by injuries.

Did Fletcher ever say why he believed his offensive production fell off in the second half of 2021?

Was he playing through an injury?

@Jeff Fletcher

[Angelsjunky]

15 minutes ago, Trendon said:

If he’s replacing walks with singles, I guess it’s the same thing.

But if he’s replacing walks with outs, that’s not the same thing.

I get he’s not gonna walk a ton, but I’d like to see him get closer to the 8.5% BB% he had from 2019-2020 than the 4.3% BB% he had in 2021-2022.

This is one of the most under-appreciated aspects of walks: A guy who slumps but still takes walks has value. A guy who doesn't, is useless.

Remember those Garret Anderson slumps? Brutal. Remember Tim Salmon's? He still ended up on first base quite frequently (and needed to be pinch run for, for the last five years of his career, but that's another matter).

But it is hard imagining Fletcher ever taking walks. I suppose if he's able to lay off the worst of pitches, but he doesn't seem to ever see a pitch he doesn't like and that's a hard habit to break five years into your major league career.

[Ace-Of-Diamonds]

29 minutes ago, Trendon said:

Did Fletcher ever say why he believed his offensive production fell off in the second half of 2021?

Was he playing through an injury?

@Jeff Fletcher

no depth

[BTH]

2 hours ago, Angelsjunky said:

This is one of the most under-appreciated aspects of walks: A guy who slumps but still takes walks has value. A guy who doesn't, is useless.

Yeah, and it’s especially important for a guy who doesn’t hit for power. There will be stretches when he runs a low BABIP, and being able to draw walks would still give him some value.

2 hours ago, Angelsjunky said:

But it is hard imagining Fletcher ever taking walks. I suppose if he's able to lay off the worst of pitches, but he doesn't seem to ever see a pitch he doesn't like and that's a hard habit to break five years into your major league career.

The thing is, I’m not asking him to do something he hasn’t done.

He drew walks at an ~8% clip for two seasons. He did it before, as recently as two (three?) seasons ago, so I don’t see why he can’t adapt his approach back to that.

[BTH]

2 hours ago, Ace-Of-Diamonds said:

no depth

no depth as in he had no lineup protection or he had to play through an injury?

[Docwaukee]

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	29.5%	59.3%	46.3%	80.4%	95.7%	91.4%	56.5%
2022	LAA	MLB	31.9%	60.4%	48.2%	75.0%	94.0%	88.6%	57.1%
Total	- - -	MLB	25.8%	53.5%	41.1%	79.1%	95.6%	91.0%	55.1%

 

The difference between the two bolded lines.  It's just a really terrible strategy to have him up there hacking.  And it's even worse for him to be hacking at pitches out of the zone.    I get that guys struggle with that part of the game but he's show his ability to not do that.  To not do it on purpose when your avg exit velo is in the bottom 1% of the league is just stupid.  

[Jeff Fletcher]

2 hours ago, Trendon said:

Did Fletcher ever say why he believed his offensive production fell off in the second half of 2021?

Was he playing through an injury?

@Jeff Fletcher

I have asked him many times and he just says “ups and downs of baseball.”

If that’s the case, we probably wouldn’t have put so much stock in that stretch if he didn’t follow it up with what happened in 2022. It makes 21 look like the start of something, when it actually may have been unrelated. 
 

I guess we’ll see this year. 

[Ace-Of-Diamonds]

1 hour ago, Trendon said:

no depth as in he had no lineup protection or he had to play through an injury?

not sure

[BTH]

2 hours ago, Jeff Fletcher said:

I have asked him many times and he just says “ups and downs of baseball.”

If that’s the case, we probably wouldn’t have put so much stock in that stretch if he didn’t follow it up with what happened in 2022. It makes 21 look like the start of something, when it actually may have been unrelated. 
 

I guess we’ll see this year. 

Yeah, it’s possible it was unrelated, since he was injured for most of 2022, but it’s hard to say right now.

His numbers were above average when he was playing healthy in 2022, but his plate discipline still wasn’t at the 2019-2020 levels.

My impression seems to be that he isn’t too concerned with his increasing chase rate and declining walk rate. Maybe that’s not accurate, but if it is, I hope someone with the Angels can get him to understand that he was at his best when he had a lower o-swing% and drew more walks.

[BTH]

3 hours ago, Docwaukee said:

The difference between the two bolded lines.  It's just a really terrible strategy to have him up there hacking.  And it's even worse for him to be hacking at pitches out of the zone.    I get that guys struggle with that part of the game but he's show his ability to not do that.  To not do it on purpose when your avg exit velo is in the bottom 1% of the league is just stupid.  

I get the impression that he doesn’t understand this concept.

I hope that either:

a. I’m wrong, and he does understand that, and is working to improve on it.

b. People in the Angels organization are telling him that and trying to get him to improve on it.

[Rollinghard]

If David Fletcher hits .295 with a .320 OBP, I will consider it a good season. He is not the kind of hitter that has the ability to look for a walk. Making him try to be something he is not may be detrimental. Let him hack.     

[DCAngelsFan]

17 hours ago, Docwaukee said:

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	29.5%	59.3%	46.3%	80.4%	95.7%	91.4%	56.5%
2022	LAA	MLB	31.9%	60.4%	48.2%	75.0%	94.0%	88.6%	57.1%
Total	- - -	MLB	25.8%	53.5%	41.1%	79.1%	95.6%	91.0%	55.1%

 

The difference between the two bolded lines.  It's just a really terrible strategy to have him up there hacking.  And it's even worse for him to be hacking at pitches out of the zone.    I get that guys struggle with that part of the game but he's show his ability to not do that.  To not do it on purpose when your avg exit velo is in the bottom 1% of the league is just stupid.  

Even without the stats to back it up, it was obvious to the eye that he'd changed his approach to swinging at stuff in his eyes.

A couple more interesting things from Fangraphs

 

 

His FB% has become awful the last couple of years - combined with a reduced EV and barrel rate, that says he's become the king of the can of corn.  

It's not hard to see why - look at the SW% above the zone:

 

His injury is less important than recognizing he's developed some really bad habits and he needs to work on that aspect of his game.  

 

[UndertheHalo]

This message is for David Fletcher

 

[BTH]

1 hour ago, Rollinghard said:

If David Fletcher hits .295 with a .320 OBP, I will consider it a good season. He is not the kind of hitter that has the ability to look for a walk. Making him try to be something he is not may be detrimental. Let him hack.     

He had a BB% over 8% in 2019-2020.

I don’t think that’s asking him to get back to that is “making him try to be something he is not.”

[BTH]

1 hour ago, DCAngelsFan said:

His injury is less important than recognizing he's developed some really bad habits and he needs to work on that aspect of his game.  

 

Yep, and he better make adjustments.

[Angel Oracle]

2 hours ago, Rollinghard said:

If David Fletcher hits .295 with a .320 OBP, I will consider it a good season. He is not the kind of hitter that has the ability to look for a walk. Making him try to be something he is not may be detrimental. Let him hack.     

The thing is that, as mentioned here, he showed the ability to take some pitches for 2019-2020.

He needs to get back to being that guy.

Edited February 24, 2023 by Angel Oracle

[Stradling]

23 hours ago, Rollinghard said:

If David Fletcher hits .295 with a .320 OBP, I will consider it a good season. He is not the kind of hitter that has the ability to look for a walk. Making him try to be something he is not may be detrimental. Let him hack.     

Except in 2019 and 2020 he was walking at a decent clip.  

[Blarg]

22 hours ago, UndertheHalo said:

This message is for David Fletcher

 

Ohtani's off season inspirational videos are the best.