The flap about Fernando Tatis Jr’s recent grand slam breaking one of the MLB unwritten rules just highlights the silliness of the notion at that level.
Some of you may have heard about the brouhaha that followed after Fernando Tatis Jr. hit a grand slam on a 3-0 pitch the other day when his team was ahead by seven runs. Supposedly, the remarkably talented young player violated one of those MLB unwritten rules. Worse, San Diego Padres manager Jayce Tingler reprimanded his own player, who reportedly seemed a little confused.
Apparently, Tatis had misplaced his written list of MLB unwritten rules.
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And to be plain for any very young fans out there, Tatis’ violation was not hitting the grand slam, but swinging at the 3-0 pitch, and this caught my attention because the prohibition against swinging at 3-0 pitches, an unwritten rule at various levels of baseball and softball in various circumstances, has always annoyed me.
Thus, you have this piece.
A full twenty years after a game of six-to-twelve-foot, slow-pitch softball, I still clearly recall being questioned by a teammate about swinging at a 3-0 pitch. My reply was a bit dismissive – the result of that swing was a line drive to center that undoubtedly hit very uneven ground, then hopped over the head of the center fielder, resulting in a two-run “homer.”
Baseball players are taught to hit good pitches. Period. This should overrule anything else – an unwritten rule and the score at the time of the pitch among them.
But let’s return to Tatis’ situation.
Hey @tatis_jr listen up:
— Trevor Bauer (トレバー・バウアー) (@BauerOutage) August 18, 2020
1) Keep swinging 3-0 if you want to, no matter what the game situation is
2) Keep hitting homers, no matter what the situation is
3) Keep bringing energy and flash to baseball and making it fun
4) The only thing you did wrong was apologize. Stop that.
As reported by the New York Times’ Victor Mather, a number of MLB players came to Tatis’ defense, among them baseball’s most opinionated individual in uniform, Trevor Bauer, and Hall of Famer Johnny Bench. Bauer’s remarks (above) were predictably over-long but well-reasoned. Bench said, “Everybody should hit 3-0. Grand slams are a huge stat.”
Don’t you love it when Johnny Bench agrees with you?
Here’s the thing about the alleged unwritten rules for MLB: They’re nonsense. Who cares if Tatis’ third base coach gave him the take sign? That he missed it isn’t good, but that’s another story. The Padres were up big already in the eighth inning when his grand slam was struck. Why didn’t the Padres take their foot off the accelerator earlier?
Because you never know what might happen in sports.
Let’s dig a bit deeper into this matter. Why should all the MLB unwritten rules be shelved?