Batting average .269 Role Baseball player Name Darrin Fletcher | Runs batted in 583 Home runs 124 | |
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Education University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign | ||
Darrin Fletcher Top # 14 Facts
Darrin Glen Fletcher (born October 3, 1966) is an American former professional baseball player and sports commentator. He played as a catcher in Major League Baseball from 1989 to 2002.
An alumnus of University of Illinois, Fletcher made his major league debut in 1989 with the Los Angeles Dodgers and appeared in 5 games. He saw limited major league playing time the following season. On September 13, 1990, Fletcher was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies for Dennis Cook, and then was traded to the Montreal Expos for Barry Jones on December 9, 1991.
In Montreal Fletcher became a fixture in the lineup, regularly playing in over 100 games a year, knocking in 50 to 60 runs and batting in the .260 to .270 range.
Fletcher signed as a free agent with the Toronto Blue Jays on November 26, 1997. With Toronto, he had some of his finest seasons. In 1999, he batted .291 with 18 home runs and 80 RBI (a career high) and in 2000 he had his first .300 season, batting .320 with 20 home runs (a career high) and 58 RBI. On August 27 of that year he hit three home runs in a game against the Texas Rangers. Fletcher's home runs made him one of seven Blue Jays to hit 20 or more that season, helping Toronto tie a record set by the 1996 Baltimore Orioles.
After these career highs, however, Fletcher struggled through the 2001 season and retired halfway through the 2002 season. He finished with a .269 batting average, 124 home runs, 583 RBI and 377 runs.
As a Phillie, Fletcher caught Tommy Greene's no-hitter on May 23, 1991.
Fletcher has done occasional color commentary for the Toronto Blue Jays on Rogers Sportsnet.
He is the son of former major leaguer, Tom Fletcher, and the grandson of long-time minor league player Glenn Fletcher. His son, Casey Fletcher, was the 2010 Danville Commercial-News baseball Player of the Year. In 2012, Casey played a season with the Danville Dans, a Prospect League team after graduating in 2011 from Oakwood High School in Oakwood, Illinois. Casey played for Kankakee Community College before transferring to the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign as a junior for the 2014 season.