You can probably count on one hand the number of players in baseball who had a weirder year than David Fletcher.
When the Atlanta Braves picked up David Fletcher in a trade with an Angels, it seemed pretty safe to assume that they figured they were just picking up a run-of-the-mill bench option as part of salary shuffling machinations. What they ended up getting was one of the most interesting individual stories in all of baseball. But, they didn’t end up getting a bench option after all — at least not one they had any interest in using.
How acquired
The Braves picked up David Fletcher in a trade with the Angels back in December 2023. They got Max Stassi in the deal as well, in exchange for Tyler Thomas and Evan White. For the Braves, the move was one that frontloaded some salary obligations in exchange for freeing up a tiny bit of obligations in 2025 and 2026, but the thinking was that they at least got a bench guy out of it for their trouble.
What were the expectations?
To be the guy who would ultimately convince his close friend Shohei Ohtani to sign with the Atlanta Braves, right? In all seriousness, the best-case scenario for Fletcher would’ve been for him to serve as a backup infielder who would come in in the (what we thought would be) rare occasions where any of Atlanta’s starting infielders needed a day off. That sort of “seen and not heard from” role seemed to make sense for a guy whose offensive approach was the antithesis of what the Braves preach — Fletcher is all about weak contact. But, beyond that, Fletcher had been useless offensively for the last three years (combined 71 wRC+) after two decent offensive seasons in 2019-2020. Furthermore, once thought to be a strong defender, Fletcher’s defense had slipped in a small sample in 2023, which was also the season that he returned to Triple-A for an extended stay (and failed to hit well there, too). All in all, Fletcher was projected to be a generic bench player: no bat, a good glove assuming 2023 was a blip, and enough positional flexibility to justify a roster spot.
2024 results
Well, this was certainly an adventurous year for David Fletcher — it’s just that a lot of that adventure took place outside of the major league squad for the Atlanta Braves. Fletcher made five appearances and three starts for the Braves as a second baseman, where he racked up two hits in nine plate appearances, driving in two in the process. All of this took place between April 17 and April 24, so Fletcher essentially spent a week with the big league squad before eventually spending the rest of the season in the minor leagues.
May was a particularly eventful month for Fletcher. At some point, he revealed that he’d actually been working on a knuckleball and the Braves organization decided to give him a try as a pitcher. He made a few relief appearances before eventually making the first start of his professional career on May 29 against the Norfolk Tides.
Fletcher went on to make 18 starts the entire season, though that start on May 29 was the only one he’d make at the Triple-A level as he spent the rest of his time down in Double-A Mississippi honing his craft on the mound while continuing to play in the field in-between starts. Fletcher didn’t exactly excel at either position, as he was pretty bad at the plate (even at the Double-A level) and he finished the season as a pitcher with a 6.37 ERA and a 6.10 FIP with Mississippi. Fletcher and Ohtani may be pals, but one guy is clearly better at this whole “two-way player” thing than the other.
Speaking of Ohtani, Fletcher also ended up getting caught up in the Ippei Mizuhara betting scandal, where it was revealed that Fletcher had bet on sports with the same illegal bookie who took bets from Mizuhara. There were reports of MLB’s investigation starting back in May (again, a very eventful month for Fletcher) but there hasn’t been any word of what the result of said investigation was. I’d have to imagine that at this point, everybody’s just satisfied with Ippei Mizuhara taking the plea deal in his federal case and everybody’s going to move on from that.
Anyway, Fletcher registered 0.0 fWAR in his tiny cup of coffee in the majors and was absolutely horrific, stats-wise, in the minors. So much for that whole “decent bench guy” thing.
What went right?
Despite the fact that he didn’t have a completely and totally effective season as a two-way player, the versatility that he showed in being able to play every day and pitch occasionally is an extremely valuable trait to have, in theory, anyway. I’d be stunned if he improves to the point of eventually being able to pull it off at the big league level, but it’s at least clear that the Braves are going to give him a shot to keep on working at it in the minors.
And, hey, he drove in a relatively important run for the Braves during one of his games:
Sure, he did it by hitting a high fastball on the ground (somehow) for a weak bouncer, but it actually get by the infield, so yay for him; the Braves ended up winning by the 3-0 score that Fletcher’s single led to.
What went wrong?
It’s pretty hard to make some serious headway in the minors when you have a wRC+ of 61 in Triple-A and 58 in Double-A. Also, David Fletcher didn’t exactly tear it up as a pitcher either. He had a particularly rough stretch in late July and early August where he gave up four runs (three earned), five runs (four earned) 10 runs (all earned) and six runs (again, all earned) in four straight starts. That’s an absolutely nightmarish run for any pitcher to have at any given level, with the only bright side being that he went at least five innings in all but the start where he gave up 10 runs. It really does feel like with the switch to being a two-way player, David Fletcher is starting all over again. You don’t exactly want to be 30 years old and in Double-A, but here we are!
Also, here’s Fletcher getting rung up on a pretty nasty 0-2 pitch in one of his few PAs as a Brave, just because.
2025 outlook
Despite being 30 and in Double-A, it does appear that the Braves are going to give Fletcher a shot to keep on getting better. The obvious hope is that he’ll take a leap and somehow end up being a productive two-way player at the big league level at some point but who knows when or if he’ll get enough chances to actually make that happen. Until then, the Braves have to be hoping that he’ll continue to make progress in the minors as a two-way player. The odds are certainly against him but as evidenced by his off-the-field hobbies, the odds have never really stopped David Fletcher from pursuing his goals.
Even though he was projected as a decent bench guy as recently as a year ago, that ship has now sailed. You just can’t hit so poorly in the minors heading into your 30s and be considered anything about the lowest tier of organizational depth, even if you’re quirky as all get out in the process.