This veteran infielder struck out the side at Triple-A with ... knuckleballs?!
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The late innings of lopsided contests are often times for things to get weird. But David Fletcher slinging unhittable knuckleballs? You can add that to the completed part of your baseball-watching bucket list.
With Triple-A Gwinnett having played a doubleheader Tuesday and falling behind 10-2 through seven-and-a-half frames just hours later Wednesday afternoon at AutoZone Park, the bullpen was understandably tapped out. So for the second time in a week – and just the second time in his pro career, which began in 2015 – Fletcher jogged over to the mound from his starting spot on the infield.
Was the 29-year-old slinging sliders? Changeups? Curveballs? Not even Statcast could entirely pinpoint it. (Which is largely due to the fact that not much data exists on a player who before May 8 had never as so much toed the rubber in a professional setting.) But the nine times that Memphis batters swung at something that looked an awful lot like a knuckleball, they missed six of them.
Fletcher’s frame began with a strikeout. He then issued a walk before showing his mettle with another punchout before MLB’s No. 99 prospect Victor Scott II stepped in. In what can only assume to have been an attempt to establish the inside part of the plate, he plunked the Redbirds’ center fielder, who gave his best Travis d’Arnaud vs. Anthony Rizzo impression.
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Working around runners in scoring position is a tricky proposition for any seasoned hurler, let alone one flinging low-60s knuckleballs up there. But no matter for Fletcher, who responded in kind by whiffing his third batter of the frame, escaping any further damage. The Stripers fell, 10-3.
Fletcher, a longtime stalwart of the Angels’ everyday lineup, joined the Braves organization this offseason in a December deal alongside catcher Max Stassi that sent first baseman Evan White and left-handed pitcher Tyler Thomas in the other direction. Fletcher has logged five appearances in The Show in 2024, but he has spent most of the year with Gwinnett, where he is hitting .250 over 27 games. But undoubtedly more impressive, he has worked a pair of relief appearances to the tune of a 0.00 ERA.
Swirling in a sea of statistical oddities is that Fletcher has struck out as a batter three times in a game on three occasions over 461 Minor League appearances (0.65 percent). But on the bump as the guy throwing the ball rather than trying to hit it? He’s done it once in two appearances (50 percent).
Maybe there’s something in the water – or better yet, floating through the air – at Triple-A. Fletcher joins Giants utility man Donovan Walton (six innings, one run allowed) as a veteran big leaguer who has found success lobbing the ball across the plate at speeds vastly below the hitting norm early on in 2024.
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