In an era of free-swinging sluggers in Major League Baseball, David Fletcher was a true throwback.
Fletcher, who played seven seasons for the Los Angeles Angels and Atlanta Braves, was a pure contact hitter, never striking out more than 64 times in a season. He managed just 16 home runs in 539 career games, but racked up 560 hits and a sturdy .276 batting average.
Then, Fletcher tried something rogue, becoming a knuckleball pitcher in the Braves’ minor-league organization early in the season last year. Altough he never made it back to the big leagues after commencing the experiment, he did manage to throw 100 1/3 innings between Double-A and Triple-A last year, totaling a 6.38 ERA.
There will be no more pitching or hitting for Fletcher, however, at least in the professional ranks. The 31-year-old’s agent told Robert Murray of FanSided on Monday that Fletcher is retiring from Major League Baseball.
Fletcher spent the entire season in the minor leagues this year, but converted back to hitting. appearing in 83 games and managing just a .497 OPS. He had an $8 million club option for next season that the Braves quickly declined, paying him a $1.5 million buyout instead.
In total, Fletcher netted just over $27 million in career earnings, thanks to a pre-arbitration extension he received from the Angels after finishing 17th in Most Valuable Player voting in 2020.
With 10.3 career wins above replacement, Fletcher wound up with a very respectable career output, especially for a former sixth-round pick. Though he proved not to be a wise long-term investment by the Angels, he’ll always be able to say he got MVP votes at the game’s highest level.
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