A Look Inside the 2020 Season of David Fletcher

David Fletcher has impressed in 2020 with his play on the field and at the plate. 

On Thursday, the Los Angeles Angels announced that they placed, David Fletcher on the 10-day IL with a sore ankle.  To call this injury concerning would be an over-exaggeration and if anything, it’s more of a bummer honestly.  With hardly 20-games remaining and him being out 10 of them, it just seemed like a good time to look back at his 2020 season and how fun he has been to watch.

Not going to lie, did not see this type of performance coming this season from Fletch.  He had a solid year in 2019 no doubt, but on a team with Mike Trout and Anthony Rendon, I wasn’t prepared for David Fletcher to be the most fun to watch on the Halos.  Between his elite-level plays on defense and thriving at the dish, he’s definitely been one of the more exciting players in baseball this year.

Fletch has spent most of his time at shortstop this year with the exception of the first few games when he filled at third for Anthony Rendon while he was out.  With Andrelton Simmons on the shelf most of the year, David has played the rest of the season at short where he has absolutely dazzled.  It seems like anytime an Angels recap comes on this year it’s a video of Fletch making some ridiculous play in a hole and then making an even more incredible throw to get the man out.  He has three errors on the year with 136 chances and with his highlights this year, it would be shocking if he wasn’t right in the mix for the Gold Glove at short.

He had a solid 2019 at the dish batting just under.300 but still, I don’t know if anybody was expecting him to be performing this good in 2020.  Hitting over .300 is great but it’s the consistency he has had at the plate this year that has been so good to see. Fletcher has reached base safely in 30 of his 35 games this year and has recorded a hit in 28 of those 30 games.  Impressive, really.

Here are some positive quotes that skipper, Joe Maddon and third baseman Anthony Rendon had to say on Fletch.

Joe Maddon on Fletcher,

"“That’s what baseball players have looked like for 100 years. He was taught properly, and it’s really a pleasure to work with him. That’s a baseball player, and that’s how a baseball player is supposed to play the game.”"

Anthony Rendon on his teammate,

"“He’s just a grinder out there.  I was telling someone the other day, if you were like an Avengers Team, or he was a Marvel Teammate, he’d be like Captain America because he’s Mr. Baseball.  It’s awesome.  It’s fun to be around, for sure.”"

The guy is just fun to watch play baseball.  Fletch could have played in any era and fit in.  He’s a grinder, easy to root for, and just a flat out ballplayer.  A 10-day stint on the IL for a sore ankle is unfortunate but I doubt if the Angels were realistically in a spot to contend that he would not be playing.

Hopefully, we’ll get to see some more of him again this year but regardless, you can count on when Fletch does come back, he’ll go back to doing his thing on the diamond that makes every baseball fan tip their cap.