In the age of ever-increasing exit velocities and launch angles, David Fletcher stands out. The Angels’ second baseman ranks dead last in average exit velocity among qualified major-league hitters and has the second-lowest strikeout rate in the American League. He’s also second in the AL in hits and owns the longest hitting streak of the season, doing so with a quiet confidence his manager likens to Joe Namath’s.
On a team with three-time MVP Mike Trout, two-way phenomenon and 2021’s presumptive AL MVP Shohei Ohtani, and All-Star corner infielders Anthony Rendon and Jared Walsh, it’s the 5' 9" Fletcher who has paced the lineup from the leadoff spot for most of the year. (Recently, he and Ohtani have flipped spots, with Fletcher now batting second.) The soft-spoken 27-year-old is not one to draw attention to himself, but his play this season has been impossible to ignore, and his teammates are more than happy to do the talking for him.
“Fletch is a unique type of player. He knows how to play the game. His IQ in baseball is very high,” shortstop José Iglesias said earlier this month. As if that wasn’t enough, Iglesias said Fletcher’s savvy extends from the diamond to the card table. “He teaches me about poker as well. He’s a good poker player.”
And how does Fletcher describe himself?
“I just enjoy competing in everything,” Fletcher says. “And I hate losing.”
That high-level baseball acumen and renowned stoicism are traits Fletcher displayed long before arriving in the big leagues in 2018. On a middling team that shares a market with the defending champion Dodgers, his cool demeanor and understated skillset make him an anonymous star and one baseball’s best-kept secrets.