San Diego Padres: Leave Fernando Tatis Jr. alone

The unwritten rules are back with a vengeance, with even the San Diego Padres manager taking a shot at Fernando Tatis Jr.

Monday night should have been a cause for celebration for the San Diego Padres and Fernando Tatis Jr. The Padres took a 14-4 victory over the Texas Rangers, snapping their five game losing streak. Tatis hit his first career grand slam and took over the major league lead in home runs with his second bomb of the game. It was a great showing for the Padres when they needed it.

Instead, the game turned into another boring discussion about the unwritten rules of baseball. Tatis committed the unforgivable sin of daring to swing on a 3-0 pitch while the Padres were up by seven runs and the bases were loaded. This led to Tatis Jr. having to apologize for hitting a ball, and the stern condemnation from both Rangers manager Chris Woodward and Padres manager Jayce Tingler.

Let’s leave it to those two to complain about Tatis hitting that homer. Tingler had a .322 slugging percentage in his four minor league seasons, belting a grand total of three home runs, and topping out with 25 games in AA. Woodward had a dozen years in the majors as a utility player, hitting 33 homers. One of those home runs was a grand slam – which he happened to hit when his team had a six run lead.

Tatis, meanwhile, is one of the bright young stars in the game. He is the type of player that Major League Baseball should be marketing, a second generation talent who is rapidly becoming the face of the Padres’ franchise. His exuberance and love of the game are evident. Instead, it is time to complain about how he broke the antiquated ‘unwritten rules’ of the sport.

It is also particularly bad timing. Major League Baseball has constantly attempted to woo the younger crowd, with changes to the game to make it more interesting. As it turns out, younger viewers are tuning in to the games on ESPN, with a 69% increase in viewers from the 18-34 year old demographic. When the range is expanded to 18-49, that increase moves to 57%. The younger audience is tuning in.

Woodward, at least, retracted his take from after the game. He stated that he understood Tatis wanting to hit and that he cannot really blame him. Now if only Tatis’ manager would do the same thing and actually have his young star’s back…

San Diego Padres shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr. did nothing wrong. It is time to put the notion of the unwritten rules of the game away and leave him alone.