PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan)- The controversy caught like wildfire Monday night into Tuesday on social media. The Texas Rangers threw behind the next batter after Fernando Tatis Jr. blasted a 3-0 pitch for a grand slam in the 8th inning to push the Padres lead to 14-3.
Rangers manager Chris Woodward and Padres manager Jayce Tingler hinted a breaking of baseball’s unwritten rules of not swinging 3-0 when you’re up by that much in a game. Even Tatis Jr. himself issued an apology of sorts for hitting the grand slam.
Many on social media crushed those in Major League Baseball who are condemning a player for just doing his job well. Reds pitcher Trevor Bauer took to Twitter and urged Tatis Jr. to “keep hitting homers, no matter what the situation is.”
The Fan Morning Show asked former MLB pitcher Matt Clement all about this situation Wednesday to get thoughts from a man who spent nine years in the league.
“There was nobody more cognizant of the unwritten rules of baseball when I was there. Not stealing in a certain situation, hitting a pitcher, hitting your best player, have him hit the other guy back, all that stuff that went on and the unwritten rules.
That one, maybe it just never surfaced for me when I was there. I know as a pitcher I’m supposed to be on the opposite side of this but I see absolutely nothing wrong with what Tatis did.”
Clement also said that the unwritten rule itself, if it does exist, is antiquated in today’s game.
“Let’s rewind to when this unwritten rule probably surfaced.
People weren’t scoring runs at the rate they’re scoring them right now. So a seven-run lead in the 8th inning, there was little to zero chance somebody had the firepower to come back from that back in the 1980’s or 70’s or even the 90’s before the steroid era.
That’s the only thing I can come up with that makes sense to me where that’s come from. Believe me, there’s people talking about it so it’s definitely there and I don’t think it’s unreal. You’re in a season where you only get a certain amount of swings right now, too. That’s another thing in Tatis’ favor.
My point of view is you’re trying to make the playoffs, that’s one of your at-bats. Man, I don’t know. I’m having a tough time seeing the opposite side of this one and I’m supposed to see the opposite side as a pitcher, right?”
For further education on the unwritten rules, Colin Dunlap asked Clement his thoughts about Jose Tabata appearing to lean in and get hit by a pitch to break up Max Scherzer’s perfect game in the 9th inning with 2 outs in a 6-0 game back in 2015.
Clement says it’s all about the score.
“A tight game, I have no problem with it,” Clement said. But in Tabata’s case…
“I have a major problem with that. Maybe that’s the pitcher coming out in me. If you would have told me 7th inning in a 5-0 game, I still would have had a problem with it. That to me is way more egregious than what Tatis did. I would have had a major problem with it if I was Scherzer.”