SALT LAKE CITY — It was February 23, 2020, in Tempe, Arizona.
Nobody on the Los Angeles Angels was talking COVID-19.
They were all talking baseball — just baseball.
It was like Eden before the fall.
Former Salt Lake Bee infielder David Fletcher was taking extra batting practice on the back lot of the Angel complex. You usually find Fletcher doing something extra.
Once viewed as an iffy prospect with average skills, Fletcher has beaten expectations at every level. After batting .315 for the Orem Owlz in 2015, scouting reports still fretted about his hitting. When he hit .350 for the Bees in 2018, the jury was still out.
Then last season with the Angels he hit .290 and led the team in base hits.
Today he’s the spark plug at the top of the batting order for the Angels, the table setter. At this writing (early August) he’s batting .340. The “experts” have stopped predicting where his “ceiling” as a player might be.
There may not be a ceiling.
In February, at the batting cage, I asked if being constantly underrated motivated him.
“Maybe a little,” he said. “But I’m more focused on always working hard.”
“When someone plays for the Orem Owlz, the Salt Lake Bees and then the Angels,” I tell him, “fans in Utah claim him as a local boy made good.”
He smiles at the thought.
“I enjoyed it in Utah. My host family there was great. They not only treated me like one the family but they saved me a lot of money.” — David Fletcher
“I enjoyed it in Utah,” he says. “My host family there was great. They not only treated me like one the family but they saved me a lot of money.”
While playing for the Bees, Fletcher proved to be a versatile infielder and a crafty base runner. His unexpected power at the plate was a welcome bonus.
“When you were with the Bees it seemed you found more pop at the plate,” I say.
He thinks back. “When was that? 2018? Yeah. That’s when I started driving the ball more.”
“You started to really attack the pitch, like Dustin Pedroia.”
He smiles. “I’ve always liked Pedroia,” he says.
Fletcher’s the type who gets called a “throwback.” He looks and plays like ballplayers from 60 years ago. He belongs on black-and-white television. He seldom finishes a game with a clean uniform.
“With your high socks and hustle, fundamentals and instincts, you remind me of ballplayers I watched in the 1950s,” I tell him.
“I’ll take that as a compliment,” he says.
Fletcher grew up in Orange, California, just a few blocks from the Angels’ “Big A” stadium. As a boy he modeled his game on David Eckstein, the beloved Angel shortstop who helped the team win the 2002 World Series. Today, Fletcher wears Eckstein’s number, 22. And he’s inherited other things, such as a knack for surprising, even shocking, opponents.
The day after our February interview, in a game against the Brewers, Fletcher attempted to go from first to third on a ground ball back to the pitcher. The first baseman was so rattled he almost threw the ball into the netting. Only a circus catch and acrobatic tag by the third baseman nipped Fletcher as he grabbed for the bag.
Often, when a ballplayer makes the third out at third base, a coach or teammate will mention the mistake to him. But nobody spoke to Fletcher. He was just doing what he’s paid to do: spark the offense.
A few days after the Brewers game, the world of Major League Baseball went dark.
Now, as teams have retaken the field again, David Fletcher’s determined to be a guy who lights the game up again. Wherever he is today, you can bet he’s talking baseball.