#Baseball’s unwritten rules getting crushed after Fernando Tatis backlash

“#Baseball’s unwritten rules getting crushed after Fernando Tatis backlash”

August 18, 2020 | 1:20pm

The backlash to the backlash has arrived.

Padres star shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr. caused quite the stir when he drilled a 3-0 pitch from Rangers pitcher Juan Nicasio for a grand slam in Monday night’s 14-4 Padres win. Rangers manager Chris Woodward said his team was annoyed that Tatis would be swinging 3-0 with a seven-run lead and even Padres skipper Jayce Tingler admonished his player.

Baseball’s “unwritten rules” are ironically getting bat flipped on social media, though.

“Fernando Tatis keep playing hard and playing great, it’s a pleasure to watch you play, love your success and the Padres rise to be a winner,” Reggie Jackson wrote. “Keep leading the way. It ain’t easy to hit Hrs. Keep bringing energy you have to the game, we need players like you.”

“So you take a pitch…now you’re 3-1. Then the pitcher comes back with a great setup pitch…3-2. Now you’re ready to groundout into a double play. Everyone should hit 3-0. Grand Slams are a huge stat,” Reds legend Johnny Bench wrote on Twitter.

“Swinging in a 3-0 count should not be against any rules, no matter the score,” Red Sox pitcher Colin McHugh wrote on Twitter. “Before a game I would always look to see what % a guy swings 3-0. If it’s over 20%, it means I can’t just groove one. The guys who will never “give you a pitch” at the plate are the toughest AB’s.

“In this data driven baseball age, there’s nowhere to hide. If you have a tendency, it’s gonna be exploited. Swinging 3-0, to me, is the same as swinging first pitch of an AB. If you do it enough times, a pitcher can’t game plan as well against you.”

Tatis apologized afterwards, saying that he missed a take sign before belting the first grand slam of his career.

“A lot of guys talk about unwritten rules of baseball, but you’re in the heat of the moment, you’re gonna try to get your pitch as a hitter and he didn’t miss,” Padres pitcher Zach Davies told reporters after the game.

“So you can’t really fault him for that, in my opinion. Some guys feel differently, but everybody has their own opinion on it.”