Fernando Tatís Jr Knows Baseball Better Than the Scolds
The Fernando Tatís Jr controversy this week shows how absurd many of baseball’s “unwritten rules” are. Imagine the NBA’s Zion Williamson or NFL’s Patrick Mahomes having the game of their life and the focus afterward being their need to do less.
Fernando Tatís Jr of the San Diego Padres hits a single during the fifth inning of a baseball game against the Texas Rangers. (Denis Poroy / Getty Images)
The crack of the bat. The roar of the crowd. The seventh-inning stretch. The Yankees winning. The Mets embarrassing themselves.
Despite declining ratings, baseball is still the “national pastime.” Its storied traditions and long history is part of the appeal of the sport. But sometimes those traditions show their more reactionary side.
The San Diego Padres’ Fernando Tatís Jr, one of the game’s elite young talents, came up to bat in the eighth inning against the Texas Rangers’ Juan Nicasio. The Padres led 10-3 and had the bases loaded as Tatís got ahead in the count 3-0. Texas catcher Jose Trevino set up low and away, a location where most batters wouldn’t swing in a 3-0 count, and Nicasio’s pitch was on target. But Tatís went down and got all of it, launching it over the right field fence for a grand slam.
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