Hundreds of baseball players make their debut over the course of a season. However, for every Ronald Acuña and Scott Kingery, there are dozens of lesser-known prospects making their debuts who aren’t as frequently discussed. To remedy that, Alex Fast, Adam Garland, Ben Palmer and I will be doing a write-up on every single player making their MLB Debut. Inspired by the Effectively Wild podcast and Andrew Perpetua, we’ll discuss each debut’s skill set, how long they will likely remain in the majors and any other pertinent information you need to know. Each player will also be stored in a spreadsheet featuring further information (bio, D.O.B, player ID’s, etc) that can be accessed at the bottom of the article.
Here is the debut from June 13th:
David Fletcher (3B, Los Angeles Angels, 24 years old)
Call Up Date: June 13th
Role: Injury Fill-In
Organization Ranking: 21st
Overall Ranking: N/A
Grades: Hit: 50 | Power: 30 | Run: 50 | Arm: 50 | Field: 50 | Overall: 45
Fantasy Relevance: Worth a flier in deeper leagues
One of the biggest breakout stories of the upper minors this season, David Fletcher has made a name for himself with a .350/.394/.559 line at AAA Salt Lake in the Pacific Coast League with 6 HRs and 7 SBs. Fletcher is supporting that batting line with a 5.8% walk rate and just a 7.6% strikeout rate which ranks 1st in the league among qualified batters. His 89 hits pace the Pacific Coast League and rank 2nd best in the entire minors at the time of his callup, and 36 of those hits have gone for extra bases which is also among the very best across the entire minor leagues. Will this hitting ability translate? His 4.1% swinging-strike rate (MLB average this year is 10.7%) gives him a high enough contact floor to suggest he has a good chance to! There’s a touch of power and speed in the profile too which should help make him fantasy relevant in a number of leagues. The Angels are dealing with several injuries to key contributors in their lineup, so the rookie may have earned a regular role with the club in the interim. I would suggest he’s worth a flier in 14 team leagues and up if you need middle-infield help.
Missed a player’s debut? Read detailed reports on all 2018 MLB debuts in this spreadsheet.