I recently figured out the workaround - which was not easy information to find. And I wanted to share here in case anyone needs it in the meantime: Spot Elevation > ender Properties click Edit Type > under Leader Arrowhead change it to None > click okay and proceed > check Leader, uncheck Shoulder > click to place then rotate by moving the mouse.
The crosshair will now have one longer 'arm' pointing at where you're annotating the elevation, so you can grab the spot elevation blue node to drag it closer to the base of that arm. This will make the crosshair almost symmetrical, but notice when you bring it too close to the origin, the text will snap back to horizontal or vertical.
But again, having a default 45 degree option for the spot elevations should be an option added to this tool.