Casey Fletcher finished his third season on the Valpo baseball coaching staff in 2021. 

Fletcher was in his third season on staff as Valpo enjoyed its best league-only winning percentage since joining the prestigious Missouri Valley Conference in 2021. A young team that received 57.8 percent of its at-bats from freshmen and 68.1 percent of its at-bats from freshmen or sophomores won two games in the MVC Tournament for the first time since joining the league. The offense featured MVC Freshman of the Year Kaleb Hannahs, who also garnered All-MVC Second Team and Freshman All-American honors. Compared to the most recently completed season of 2019, the team improved its batting average, slugging percentage, on-base percentage and fielding percentage in addition to increasing its number of home runs, doubles, hits and runs scored in 2021. The squad stole 33 bases, its highest total since 2017. In addition, Fletcher helped the team finish with a .969 fielding percentage in 2021, the third-best in program history.

Fletcher came to Valpo after a two-year stint at Illinois, where he served as a volunteer assistant. The Fighting Illini went 33-20 and 15-9 in the Big Ten Conference during his final season on staff in 2018. 

Prior to joining the coaching staff at Illinois, Fletcher played professionally for two seasons with the Joliet Slammers of the Frontier League. He enjoyed a prosperous collegiate playing career that featured two seasons as an All-Big Ten honoree at Illinois (2014-2015) and played a key role in Illinois’ program-record 50-win season in 2015. He helped the Fighting Illini advance to the NCAA Super Regional for the first time in program history by hitting .326 with 48 runs, three homers and 33 RBIs as a senior.

Fletcher graduated from Illinois in 2015 with a degree in communication. He was an outfielder in college before moving behind the plate in the professional ranks, giving him a unique positional resume. Fletcher, who started his collegiate career with two seasons at Kankakee Community College, hit .318 with 60 RBIs over his two seasons playing for the Illini. During his time on Illinois’ staff, he served as the first base coach.

Fletcher, an Oakwood, Ill. native and graduate of Oakwood High School, comes from a strong baseball lineage. His father Darrin played in the big leagues from 1989-2002 with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Philadelphia Phillies, Montreal Expos and Toronto Blue Jays. He was a National League All-Star in 1994 while playing for the Expos. Casey’s grandfather Tom also reached the big leagues with the Detroit Tigers in 1962 and his great grandfather Glenn spent 10 seasons in the minor leagues.