Breaking down Brandon Drury's historically bad Angels season

Brandon Drury truly fell off a cliff this season.

The utility man is engulfed in one of the worst seasons for a position player in Angels history, and no one is exactly sure how he got to this place. The 32-year-old journey man made his mark on the league with his smooth right-handed swing and positional versatility. Angels fans lauded the Drury signing for 2 years and $17 million before the 2023 season, as he was just coming off a silver slugger season with both the Cincinnati Reds and San Diego Padres. In his first Angels season last year, Drury trailed only Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout in fWAR, wOBA, and wRC+. His defensive fWAR ranked second on the team. Drury outplayed his contract in his first year, leaving many thinking that Drury would be playing in Anaheim for many years to come.

As the 2024 season draws to a close, Drury will assuredly be playing elsewhere next season. Drury still has eight games left to remedy his ghastly season, but as it stands he has the worst fWAR of an Angels position players in at least the last 30 years. Drury is currently posting a -1.9 fWAR, and he is chasing Albert Pujols' 2017 season's -1.8 fWAR as the worst mark of the last 30 years. In the previous two seasons, Drury clubbed 54 home runs. This season he has 4. In the previous seasons, Drury totaled 496 total bases. This season he has 68.

Drury's offensive fWAR is -27, which trails 2017 Pujols' -23, and ties Brandon Wood's in 2010. In the context of the last 30 years, Drury is spared by Bengie Molina's 2002 season in which he posted a whopping -33.1 offensive fWAR.

Drury's missed time this season due to a strained hamstring, but is that injury entirely to blame? Sure, nagging hamstrings are difficult to endure. Maybe Drury's forced his way back early because he's in a contract year?

The most perplexing aspect of Drury's woeful season is the fact that he is a thorough worker off the field. He works incredibly hard in the batting cages, with hitting coaches, and is diligent in reviewing his swing's mechanics through video work. His lead by example tactics are invaluable for a team comprised of a large number of youngsters. Fans can be upset for the on field product, but cannot chock the poor results up to laziness or antipathy to his situation. Drury is a grinder, he was a 13th round pick out of high school and adapted his game to the modern sport. Drury does not look like a prototypical utility man, but he clearly put in the work to turn himself into a valuable commodity in the eyes of front offices.

Angels fans will be driving Drury to the airport this offseason to make room for Luis Rengifo and/or Christian Moore to assume full time second base duties. Drury's 2023 season should be lauded, but his 2024 season will go down in infamy.