Let this be written: Swing away, Tatis Jr.!
It’s bad enough that Monday night’s Padres game, a 14-4 rout, will be remembered more for reviving another debate over American baseball’s unwritten rules instead of Fernando Tatis Jr.‘s latest statement declaring his superstardom: a grand slam which came on a 3-0 count in the eighth inning. But that’s not the worst part.
Neither is that the next batter, Manny Machado, had a ball thrown behind him by Ian Gibaut. Nor is it the challenge of believing Woodward, who said Gibaut’s pitch “slipped out of his hand” and past Macha- do’s head, after the Rangers manager made it clear he doesn’t like the unwritten rules broken. The league was unconvinced and suspended both pitcher and manager for breaking a written rule by retaliating.
No, the worst part is that Tatis, one of the brightest stars in the game, might actually feign belief in the nonsense.
“I’ve been in this game since I was a kid,” said Tatis, whose father, Fernando Tatis Sr., hit two grand slams in one inning while playing with the Cardinals — a game St. Louis was comfortably in control of. “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.”
This is where the alarms should go off for anyone concerned about baseball being a game you want your grandchildren to enjoy.
If Tatis was merely a power-hitting, fleetfooted, all-world talent he would still have his fans because greatness cannot be entirely ignored. But MLB shouldn’t be clamoring for the next Tim Duncan; the league already has a sterile box-score stuffer manning center field in Anaheim.
Sorry for being old school, but baseball isn’t played on a spreadsheet. No one pays to scrutinize a Strat-o-Matic run, nor was Twitch invented so you could livestream a 20-year MLB: The Show sim. You can’t appreciate Tatis without literally watching him flex and bat flip on anyone reckless enough to throw a 92 mph fastball in his zone.
Unless you’re his general manager or agent, counting Tatis’ hits, OBP or Wins Above Replacement entirely misses the point. Tatis was audacious enough to unleash his gorgeous swing. Drawing a walk with the bases loaded would have padded the score while reducing him to a statistic. The Padres might have won but everyone else loses.
But old, ridiculous, habits die hard, hence the attempted hit on Machado and Woodward’s implausible defense, and now, the exhausting conversation about unwritten rules we’re having now.
My first column for the paper you’re reading was published in April of 2019 and involved Tim Anderson’s tangential clash with a familiar dynamic back in April. I’ve only been covering baseball for a year — keep me in your prayers — and I’m already tired of telling y’all to Let the Kids Play and then showing why coded language around some of those kids is a reason why they don’t. I’ve seen this show before and were it not my job to keep watching, I’d have flipped the channel.
Tingler might understand the absurdity of the dynamic more than the ordinary middle-aged white manager — he managed Escogido in the high-octane, style-and-swagger Dominican Winter League, and knows more than most the American baseball’s unwritten rules don’t always travel overseas — making his actions the most egregious of all.
The Padres manager let reporters know after the game that his team was “not trying to run up the score or anything” and that he signaled to Tatis to settle for one base instead of hustling for all four. By criticizing Tatis, Tingler distanced himself from the most important player on his team at a time when Tatis needed his unqualified affirmation most.
I believe Tingler was defending his team from a reputation that might get Tatis drilled in the face for every perceived act of defiance by players too dim to match his shine. But Tatis wasn’t the only one protected: Tingler legitimized whatever retaliation might come the next time his young player doesn’t fall in line.
Fortunately, there’s hope that Tingler understood he failed his franchise player. Before Tuesday’s rematch, he spoke out against the Rangers throwing at his team and made it clear that like Tatis, he plays to win.
“(The Rangers) are trying to kick our ass and we’re trying to kick their ass and win and that that’s the bottom line,” Tingler said to reporters before Tuesday’s rematch. “So, we can sit here and worry about people’s feelings,” implying that he wouldn’t be concerned with Woodward’s going forward.
And Tatis, despite his apology, seemed to not let the conversation stifle what makes him great. During the game, up 6-0 in the fourth, he stole third off Gibaut, perhaps giving the young reliever something else to think about during his upcoming suspension.
Attempting to steal third is always risky, a low percentage move for all the non-Hendersons, Colemans and Hamiltions, but Tatis did it anyway. Don’t change the channel just yet.