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Rangers Manager Chris Woodward Groans About ‘Unwritten Rules’ After Fernando Tatís Jr.’s Grand Slam

In Tuesday’s Hot Clicks: baseball’s unwritten rules get broken again, a reader giveaway and more.

Dan Gartland

Fernando Tatís Jr. makes old-school baseball types so mad

Fernando Tatís Jr. continued his torrid start to the season on Monday and made a few people angry in the process. 

Tatís homered twice in the Padres’ 14–4 win over the Rangers, including an eighth-inning grand slam, to give him an MLB-high 11 homers on the year. His seven RBI on the night were a career-high. 

But a box score can never tell the full story of what Tatís does in a game. Everything this guy does he does with style and swagger. That grand slam wasn’t just a line drive to the opposite field, it was a blast that got the Rangers’ blood boiling. 

You see, San Diego was up 10–3 in eighth, and Juan Nicasio had fallen behind 3–0 on Tatís. Most hitters wouldn’t take the bat off their shoulder in that situation, but Tatís isn’t most hitters. He’s not going to let a 92 mph fastball over the heart of the plate go by him. 

The Rangers responded by throwing the next pitch behind the back of the following batter, Manny Machado. 

After the game, Rangers manager Chris Woodward expressed his displeasure with Tatís's decision to swing away. 

“There's a lot of unwritten rules that are constantly being challenged in today's game,” Woodward told reporters. “I didn't like it, personally. You're up by seven in the eighth inning; it's typically not a good time to swing 3–0. It's kind of the way we were all raised in the game. But, like I said, the norms are being challenged on a daily basis, so—just because I don't like it doesn't mean it's not right.”

Padres manager Jayce Tingler, who previously worked as a coach and in the front office for the Rangers, was wasn’t too happy, either, and you could see it on his face when Tatís got to the dugout. 

“He’s young, a free spirit and focused and all those things,” Tingler told reporters. “That’s the last thing that we’ll ever take away. It’s a learning opportunity and that’s it. He’ll grow from it.

“Just so you know, a lot of our guys have green light 3–0. But in this game in particular, we had a little bit of a comfortable lead. We’re not trying to run up the score or anything like that.”

Tatís said he wasn’t aware he had done anything people might object to. 

“I’ve been in this game since I was a kid,“ he said. “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.”

Of all the unwritten rules, this one ranks among the most idiotic. It’s not like going out of your way to steal a base with a healthy lead. All Tatís was doing was swinging at a hittable pitch. It’s exceptionally lame to expect a professional athlete to take it easy on another professional athlete just because the game is out of reach. 

From a purely strategic perspective, it’s sometimes the best approach for a guy to take a pitch in that situation. It would be a different story if light-hitting catcher Austin Hedges was at the plate, who’s liable to ground into a double play. He should be taking all the way. But Tatís was, at the time the pitch was thrown, tied for the MLB lead in home runs. He’s exactly the kind of guy you want swinging away when you know the pitcher is trying to throw one over the plate. He would have had the green light if the Padres were leading by three, so why is he expected to be charitable when the lead is bigger? If Nicasio didn’t want to give up a grand slam, he should have thrown him a better pitch.

That was a tech?

After years toiling in obscurity with the Knicks, Kristaps Porzingis finally got a chance to play in the playoffs on Monday night. And he got sent to the locker room early for one of the weakest technical fouls you’ll ever see. 

After Marcus Morris got a little rough with Luka Doncic, Porzingis stepped in to defend his teammate. A little pushing and shoving was all it took for him to be issued a second tech and sent packing. 

The most famous player in Mavs history didn’t like what he saw. 

Even LeBron couldn’t bite his tongue and decided to criticize the refs. 

Who wants free stuff? 

How messed up is this? Today is my birthday and yet I’m the one giving one of you a gift.

Richard Sherman is starring in a 12-part digital series from Million Stories Media that aims to educate people about financial literacy. “Adulting With Richard Sherman” has installments dealing with budgeting, buying a car, renting an apartment and more. Episodes are available at millionstories.com.

Today, we’re giving away a football signed by Sherman. Here’s how to win:

UPDATE: Thanks to everyone who entered. The prize has been claimed. Congrats to John on winning. 

  • Go back to Monday’s Hot Clicks
  • Find the name of the team that hit four home runs in a row on Sunday
  • Send me an email (dan.gartland@si.com) with the subject line Sherman giveaway and the correct answer in the body

The 114th person (in honor of Sherman’s 114 career passes defended) to email me following those instructions will win (one entry per person).

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Dan Gartland
DAN GARTLAND

Dan Gartland is the writer and editor of Sports Illustrated’s flagship daily newsletter, SI:AM, covering everything an educated sports fan needs to know. He joined the SI staff in 2014, having previously been published on Deadspin and Slate. Gartland, a graduate of Fordham University, is a former Sports Jeopardy! champion (Season 1, Episode 5).

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