The door is open for Dominic Fletcher. Right field is there for the taking.
Acquired from the Arizona Diamondbacks last week in exchange for right-handed pitching prospect Cristian Mena, Fletcher looks the part of a young, major league ready player who can provide defense at all three outfield positions and a capable bat from the left side at a position the White Sox have tried unsuccessfully to fill for years.
“I went from pretty much trying to earn a spot on the team as possibly a fourth or fifth outfielder to having a chance to compete for a spot,” Fletcher said Friday. “That’s really exciting for me and my family and my career to be able to have that opportunity, and we’re going to go out there and try to win.”
The 5-9 Fletcher, who bats and throws left, went from a crowded place in the outfield of the National League champions — where he was blocked by Corbin Carrroll, Lourdes Gurriel Jr., Alek Thomas, Joc Pederson and Jake McCarthy — to the Sox, who were set in left and center with Andrew Benintendi and Luis Robert Jr. but questionable with converted first baseman Gavin Sheets, Triple-A bound Oscar Colas. Zach DeLoach, also a left-handed hitter, was acquired in a trade from Seattle for Gregory Santos, and veteran Kevin Pillar was signed to a minor league contract worth $3 million if he makes the team, so the Sox outfield picture has improved in the last week or so.
“I’m going to show up this spring training and compete, do whatever I can to try to help this team win,” Fletcher said. “I’m just I’m here to compete and try to win a spot.”
Fletcher, 26, played in 28 games over two stints with Arizona in 2023, batting .301/.350/.441 with two homers, five doubles, 14 RBI and 10 runs scored. He made his debut on April 30 at Colorado and went 8-for-12 with a double, triple, two home runs, nine RBI and eight runs scored over a three-game stretch against San Francisco on May 11-13.
At Triple-A Reno, he batted .291/.399/.500 (81-278) with 10 homers and 45 RBI and 71 runs scored in 66 games before a fractured left index finger ended his season Sept. 4.
“Offensively, I feel like I’ve always hit for average,” Fletcher said. “The last couple years, I feel like I’ve driven the ball a little better, just getting the ball in the air, getting balls in the gap, catching some balls out front and letting them leave the yard. But I’m not really trying to transition to a power guy. I’m always going to be a gap-to-gap guy. I know what I’m good at.”
Fletcher is a career .295/.366/.474 hitter with 42 home runs and 21 triples in 356 games over four minor-league seasons.
But “defense has always been first for me,” he said. “It’s something at a young age I realized you’re not going to hit all the time, and when you’re not hitting, you need to be able to do something to help the team. So I focused a lot on defense when I was younger, in college and throughout the minor leagues. I feel like defense is definitely my strong suit, and that will always be there, even when you’re not hitting.”
The Sox are coming off a 61-101 season, so Fletcher will be transitioning from a much different vibe.
“As a player, you don’t really look at it as a rebuild,” Fletcher said. “We have a lot of good players on the field. You look through the roster, there’s plenty of talent to go out there and win. That’s something I’m big on. I like to win whatever I do, I like to go out there and compete. I don’t think we look at it as a rebuild, it’s more of, we’ve got the players around us, let’s go do it.”
