Fernando Tatis Jr. Ran Afoul of MLB's Horribly Outdated Unwritten Rules
Tatis hit a grand slam on a 3-0 pitch with a seven-run lead in the eighth inning, which is apparently a no-no.
Padres shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr. is only in his second season in the majors, but he has already become one of the handful of recognizable faces around the league, establishing himself as an elite talent. Before a back injury cut short his dream of winning the 2019 NL Rookie of the Year Award, Tatis made some flashy defensive plays while hitting an incredible .317/.379/.590 over 372 plate appearances. That included 13 doubles, six triples, 22 homers, 16 stolen bases, 53 RBI, and 61 runs scored.
Tatis is on the warpath for some hardware to start the 2020 season. After going 2-for-5 with a three-run homer and a grand slam in Monday night’s shellacking of the Rangers, Tatis is hitting .305/.383/.726 with 11 home runs, 28 RBI, and 22 runs scored. He’s tops in all of baseball in homers and RBI, and FanGraphs has him as the MLB leader in Wins Above Replacement (1.9).
The numbers do him justice, but he’s also just really fun to watch. Pretty much since Derek Jeter retired, MLB has had a difficult time marketing its stars. Mike Trout, who may very well go down as the best player to ever play the game, has been more or less invisible from a marketing perspective, though that’s very much his choice. Aaron Judge and Mookie Betts have emerged as icons of the sport, but they don’t have anywhere near the clout of a Tom Brady or LeBron James.
MLB is a regional sport whereas NFL and NBA are more national sports, which affects the marketability calculus. There’s a ton of other factors as well, such as blackout rules for broadcasts. In short, there are a lot of things going against MLB as it attempts to compete nationally and globally with other sports for precious eyeballs. Players like Tatis, Juan Soto, and Ronald Acuña Jr. are among a handful of young superstars who are vying to break MLB’s stagnant mold.
There’s only one thing in the way: MLB’s culture policing. The issue is far more complex than a summary in a newsletter, but it’s an issue that persists ultimately because MLB was a white man’s sport until 1947, when Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier. In the decades that ensued, non-white players were kept in line by conservative white leaders, whether on the roster or in the front office. That is how we arrived at MLB’s “unwritten rules,” which include policies such as not expressing emotion after succeeding and ceasing attempts to further one’s lead at a certain point in the game (e.g. no stealing bases with an eight-run lead).
Bat-flipping has become much more accepted in MLB than it was just five years ago, but it’s still not where it should be. Take, for example, baseball in Asia, where bat-flipping is not only allowed, but encouraged. Consider that the atmosphere at a baseball game in Mexico is described as “more like a party.” Nothing has revealed the culture chasm between baseball in the U.S. and everywhere else more than the World Baseball Classic, which has seen mostly solemn U.S. teams competing against exciting teams across the globe.
That brings us back to Tatis, who ran afoul of one of baseball’s unwritten rules on Monday night. His first homer put the Padres up 10-3 in the seventh inning, which was fine because it was still a competitive ballgame. The next inning, with the same score, Tatis came to the plate with the bases loaded and one out. He worked the count 3-0 against Juan Nicasio, then drilled an outside fastball to the opposite field for a grand slam, upping the lead to 14-3. Ian Gibaut relieved Nicasio and his first pitch was thrown immediately behind the back of the next hitter, Manny Machado, seemingly in retaliation.
After the game, Rangers manager Chris Woodward chided Tatis for swinging 3-0. Per Sam Blum of the Dallas Morning News, Woodward said, “I didn't like it personally. You're up by 7 in the 8th inning, it's typically not a good time 3-0. It's kind of the way we were all raised in the game. But ... the norms are being challenged.”
Padres rookie manager Jayce Tingler said Tatis missed a take sign. Tatis seemed remorseful, saying, “I know a lot of unwritten rules. I was kind of lost on this. … Those experiences, you have to learn. Probably next time, I’ll take a pitch.”
Tatis hitting a grand slam any time is a highlight. A grand slam as his second homer of the game, upping his RBI total to seven? That’s a must-watch clip. And that’s how you market MLB and its players. The sport is irreparably harmed every time white players and coaches – and they’re almost always white – try to neuter the behavior of players, who more often than not are non-white. It’s a culture clash that needs to be squelched.
Tatis also has a lot of extracurricular incentives to hit that grand slam, unwritten rules be damned. While the Padres will determine his salary next year, a good performance can dictate a slightly higher pay raise. He will then become eligible for arbitration in 2021. His numbers will have a significant impact on his earning potential. One grand slam isn’t likely to make a big difference all on its own, but how many other unwritten-rules situations will Tatis find himself in through the 2021 season? Two, three, five, eight? If he lets himself be tamped down, the unwritten rules police could cost him a handful of doubles, homers, and stolen bases as well as dozens of RBI.
The Padres were also mired in a five-game losing streak until defeating the Rangers last night. What if a 10-run victory as opposed to a six-run victory is what gets the Padres feeling good as a team and they go on a tear? Winning is infectious and Tatis adding the exclamation point last night could have been a rallying cry for the Padres. Why should the Rangers’ hurt feelings prevent that?
Beyond that, though, where is Woodward’s pride? A seven-run deficit in the eighth inning is tough to overcome, but not at all impossible, especially in today’s day and age with the juiced baseball. The Padres also have a 6.19 bullpen ERA, the fifth-worst mark in the league. If I’m a Rangers player and my manager is citing unwritten rules as if the game had already been decided at that point in the top of the eighth inning, I would be insulted. This isn’t tee-ball. There is no mercy rule. At any rate, if you don’t want a player to hit a grand slam to turn a seven-run lead into an 11-run lead, then don’t serve up a meatball. Don’t fall behind in the count 3-0 to make your next pitch utterly predictable.
Tatis is the future of baseball. Woodward and his unwritten rules ilk are dinosaurs on their way to extinction. Embrace the evolution of the sport or get left behind forever.
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