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Home , Alec Asher, Andy Marte, Bat flip, Chris Martin (baseball), Cody Stanley, Cristian Pache

Clippings Friday, August 21, 2020 Braves.com

Inbox: Does Pache change Braves' OF look?

Beat reporter Mark Bowman answers questions from fans

By Mark Bowman

What would you expect the to look like once Ronald Acuña Jr. and Nick Markakis are back? -- @bravesdaniel

It depends on how , the club's top prospect according to MLB Pipeline, fares once he has a chance to test himself against big league pitching. He’s an elite defender and his upside is much greater than that of Jordan Schafer, Andy Marte and other top prospects of yesteryear. But like most mere mortals, he’s not Acuña and it may take him some time to develop offensively, especially during a year when he hasn’t had the benefit of playing on an everyday basis.

If Pache has success this weekend and early next week, he may force his way into the lineup on a daily basis. But there’s also a chance he could be sent back to the alternate training site by the time this homestand concludes on Wednesday.

Even if Markakis were to continue testing negative, the Braves will likely keep him away from the team until some point next week. As for Acuña, he will remain sidelined until the club is confident he will not have lingering issues with his wrist.

Once Acuña is activated, he could return to playing right field against right-handers and center field when sits against lefties. This obviously would change if Pache proves he is ready to stay at the big league level.

Adam Duvall will likely continue to draw starts in left field against left-handed starters. Markakis’ limited range makes him a better fit in right field, especially at , which possesses a cavernous left field. As for , he continue to draw starts at the corner spots but could primarily be used as the .

Which starting should the Braves target at the Deadline? -- @MikeBooks1

The expanded playoff field stands as one of the variables that will make it even more challenging to land an impact before next week’s Deadline. But I do expect the Braves will end up landing somebody, even if it’s a slightly off-the-radar acquisition like Kevin Gausman was in 2018.

And yes that deal, which also brought Darren O’Day to Atlanta, was a good one based just on how good Gausman was for the first six weeks he was with the Braves. Without looking, I challenge you to name one player sent to the Orioles in that deal.

Unless the Reds implode over the next week, Trevor Bauer isn’t going anywhere. There’s also reason to doubt whether the Rangers will opt to deal Lance Lynn or Mike Minor, who has not gotten off to a good start.

And I’m not sure the Indians are so mad at that they’d be willing to part ways with him at the reduced rate teams will be offering in exchange for pitching this year.

So it may be more likely the Braves would take a chance on Dylan Bundy, who has posted a 2.48 ERA through his first five starts for the Angels. As his hard- and walk rates have decreased this year, his rate has increased. His velocity has dropped over the past few years, but this recent revival creates reason to be optimistic about what this former top prospect could also do next season in his final arbitration year.

If the Braves do make a move, it will likely be for a pitcher who they would not be contractually committed to beyond the end of this season.

What is the status of ? -- @HampB273 Before Tuesday night’s game, said Hamels was feeling good but was “still a little ways” from getting off a mound. I followed by asking if the veteran lefty was cleared to throw off a mound by Sept. 1, would he have enough time to make a regular-season start.

“That I don’t know,” Snitker said. “I hope so.”

Quite frankly, Snitker and the Braves have no choice but to remain publicly optimistic about the possibility of Hamels becoming healthy enough to at some point. But the fact is, time is running or may have actually already expired.

Hamels said the left shoulder inflammation that forced him to miss would have likely kept him sidelined until the latter part of May. Yet, when he showed up for Summer Camp at the start of July, he was not ready to throw live practice like the other projected starters. A week later he was shut down again by triceps tendinitis.

An ailment that was initially described as simple Spring Training soreness has prevented Hamels from getting back on the mound more than a month later. So there is reason to doubt what he might provide over the remainder of this year.

Hamels will likely begin throwing off a mound again next week. If all goes well, he will be activated in September and then steadily attempt to build his in big league games. It’s not exactly what you want in a potential playoff race. But when your rotation has been pared down to one standing member, you do what you have to do.

Should we be concerned about Marcell Ozuna looking out of place in the outfield? -- @KBsPickFactory

Not really. In fact, Ozuna struggling defensively is one of the few things that has gone as predicted in 2020.

Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Braves activate , option

By Gabriel Burns, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The Braves are making another change to their rotation.

Kyle Wright, who didn’t make his scheduled start Wednesday because of a rainout, was optioned to the alternate training site in Gwinnett on Thursday. Reliever Chris Martin, who had been out since Aug. 7 with an esophageal constriction, was activated from the and provides needed depth.

Wright, 24, has struggled to consistently throw strikes this season. He owned a 7.20 ERA over four starts, striking out 12 and walking 16 in 15 innings. He exceeded 3-1/3 innings in only one start.

Wright is the third starter to open the season in the Braves’ rotation only to wind up in Gwinnett, joining Mike Foltynewicz and .

Following Wednesday’s rainout, the Braves announced Max Fried, Robbie Erlin and would start against the Phillies this weekend. They have two off days next week, allowing them to go with a shorter rotation if they choose.

Certainly, the watch for - the Braves’ No. 1 pitching prospect - is well underway. The Braves have Anderson and left-hander at the alternate site, awaiting their major-league debuts.

A quick look at good and bad of Braves’ first 25 games

By Gabriel Burns, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

As the Braves near the 30-game halfway point of the season, let’s take a glance at some of the positives and negatives over the first 25 games:

THE GOOD

The bullpen: One of the best in the majors has helped the Braves withstand troubles with the rotation. Lefty might be baseball’s best feel-good story, returning to the majors for the first time since 2015. Before he was tagged for four runs against the Nationals this week, he allowed only two runs over his first eight appearances.

Shane Greene looks like his 2019 All-Star self again, allowing one over 11-1/3 innings. suddenly looks like a productive long reliever. A.J. Minter has resembled his old form, when he was deemed the team’s of the future. Darren O’Day and Mark Melancon have met expectations. has been a serviceable lefty. All-Star lefty hasn’t gotten rolling yet, with only four appearances, after beginning the season on the COVID-19 list. Chris Martin rejoined the bullpen Thursday after time on the injured list because of an esophageal constriction.

Overall, the Braves boast a deep, experienced bullpen. It’s bailed them out so far, but if starters can’t start covering more innings, it’s going to take a toll on the relief group, as the Braves know.

Run production: While the Braves’ offensive has had some shortcomings, they rank eighth in MLB with 124 runs scored. They rank ninth in hits (213), 10th in average (.253) and slugging (.440), and 11th in homers (34). Their 54 doubles lead the majors.

They’ve done enough to overcome their overwhelming strikeout numbers and middling on-base percentage. Their 250 are one behind the major-league lead, which belongs to Oakland, the team with the American League’s best record. Their .322 on-base mark is 15th in the majors, just a tick behind the -best Dodgers.

All in all, the Braves are a fringe top-10 offense even in their mediocre form. That’s encouraging for future output, though the team needs to get healthy first.

Where they stand: Despite few breaks going their way, the Braves are in good shape postseason-wise, even without considering the expanded field. Down three young All-Stars, they’re 14-11, in first place in the NL East. Now that the Marlins are coming back to Earth, the rest of the division isn’t menacing either; nobody else is over .500. The Braves should still be considered the favorites.

How the Braves have handled their circumstances deserves praise, but many considered them the second-best team in the NL entering the season. There’s still time to find their best form – they haven’t come close to it yet – but projecting ahead for October, it’s hard to see how this team makes a deep run if you’re judging it off the first 25 games. Fortunately, there’s plenty of time remaining.

THE BAD

The shattered rotation: It’s been a while since the Braves’ No. 1 weakness was so obvious; to say they need rotation help wouldn’t do the situation justice.

Mike Soroka is out for the season. Mike Foltynewicz and Sean Newcomb are at the alternate training site. If Cole Hamels returns, the earliest it could be is the second week of September. and Kyle Wright (who was optioned to the alternate site Thursday) are intriguing young , but neither should be as relied upon as they’ve been.

Josh Tomlin has left his bullpen role (at least temporarily) to join the rotation. He’ll make his second start this weekend. Newcomer Robbie Erlin impressed in his first start against the Marlins and will get another turn.

Max Fried has exceeded even optimistic expectations. He’s firmly entrenched in the watch. But the rotation beyond him is in shambles. The Braves know they’re extremely limited if the unit isn’t sorted out.

The trade deadline is 11 days away, but it’s far from guaranteed the Braves can make a sizable addition. If the Braves don’t advance in the postseason again, their starting pitching would be the likeliest reason why.

Injuries: Losing Soroka was a gigantic blow to the Braves’ pennant hopes. Hamels’ unavailability has further weakened the rotation. Missing Ronald Acuna and , each because of a wrist problem, has forced the Braves to switch up their lineup.

Neither Acuna’s nor Albies’ ailments appear serious, but they were enough to land them on the injured list. The Braves were hopeful Acuna would return this weekend, with Albies not far behind him. If there are any lingering issues – and the Braves have sidelined them hoping to avoid such – that could loom large in the playoffs.

Freddie Freeman, who arrived at camp five days before because of his own battle with COVID-19, was off to a slow start but seems to be coming around. Nick Markakis, who rejoined the team after the season started, is momentarily out because of potential COVID-19 exposure, though Markakis hasn’t tested positive.

Martin and Smith have rejoined the bullpen.

To their credit, the Braves have done an admirable job navigating injuries and managing the virus’ threat. They’re getting healthier, and when Acuna and Albies return, perhaps they can finally hit their stride.

Holes in the lineup: and starred during the third base competition in spring training. The break didn’t help them: third base has been a gaping hole for the Braves thus far. Riley is hitting .167 with 23 strikeouts in 66 at-bats. Camargo, who’s played second base recently, is hitting .192 with 25 strikeouts in 73 at-bats.

Even following a three-hit game Tuesday, Ender Inciarte is hitting .226/.304/.258. The Braves just promoted top outfield prospect Cristian Pache, who could cut into Inciarte’s time, but probably won’t make a big immediate impact at the plate. Right now, the Braves aren’t getting much from three key players. Their potent top four – Acuna, Albies, Freeman and Marcell Ozuna – haven’t clicked simultaneously either. The offense has been helped by above-expectations production from Travis d’Arnaud and .

Overall, despite producing runs, the lineup has clear weaknesses that will be magnified in the postseason. To state the obvious, the Braves would benefit greatly from a Camargo or Riley capturing some of the lightning in a bottle they found in the past. Perhaps Pache will provide a spark.

The Athletic

Rosenthal: After surprising PED tests, MLB players fight to clear their names

By Ken Rosenthal

His career was on the rise. He could see his major-league dream starting to unfold. Herschel “Boog” Powell would start the 2016 season in the minors, and at some point, he would take over as the Mariners’ center fielder.

Then, just after the -A season began, Powell received a phone call he will never forget.

An official at the Players Association was on the line. Powell, then 23, newly acquired from the Rays, had tested positive for Dehydrochlormethyltestosterone (DHCMT), better known as the anabolic steroid Oral Turinabol.

“I went into my manager’s office and pretty much just bawled my eyes out,” Powell recalls. “I said, ‘I don’t know what this is. I’m freaking out.’”

Pat Listach, the Mariners’ former Triple-A manager, says Powell swore “up and down” he did nothing wrong. Powell says Mariners general manager Jerry Dipoto advised him not to appeal, the better to expedite the process and ensure his availability for the start of the 2017 season. On June 23, the news became official: had suspended Powell for 80 games.

Powell, now training at the Reds’ alternate site as a member of the Reds’ 60-man player pool, was not the first player to be suspended for DHCMT. He would not be the last. Each time another player suffered the same fate, Powell and four others who believe they were wrongly suspended for violating baseball’s Joint Drug Agreement in 2016 would text one another with a familiar lament.

“Welcome to the club, buddy.”

“It honestly feels like a sick joke that has been going on for years and years,” says Alec Asher, a pitcher in the Twins organization who also served a suspension for DHCMT. “We hate to see these kids go down for it. We know they didn’t do it before they even say they didn’t do it.”

Many athletes suspended for performance-enhancing drugs profess their innocence, claiming not to know how the illegal substance entered their systems. But since 2015, the league has suspended 21 players who tested positive for DHCMT’s long-term M3 metabolite, the byproduct of the drug after it is broken down by the body. Those players are still fighting to bring about change and salvage their reputations, insisting they did nothing improper. League officials say otherwise, citing the players’ positive tests as proof they used a banned substance and pointing to a decreased number of suspensions for DHCMT – four in 2019-20, down from 16 in 2016-18 – as evidence the system is working.

The Players Association demonstrated its support for the players’ position last week, proposing to MLB a revision of the Joint Drug Agreement that would establish a minimum threshold for the metabolite that would need to appear in a player’s urine for him to be suspended. The proposal, first reported by the Wall Street Journal and similar to one adopted in late 2019 by the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), likely will be tabled until the annual end-of-season meeting at which the league and union discuss modifications to the JDA. And while such an adjustment, if the league agrees to the change, likely would prevent suspensions similar to many that already have occurred for trace amounts of DHCMT, they would not give the players who have been penalized what they truly want: exoneration.

The issues players raise about their suspensions include the source of the substance, the amount of time it stays in the body and the “pulsing” effect that creates intermittent, seemingly random positive and negative results.

The players, who include two active major leaguers, Red Sox Michael Chavis and Giants pitcher Logan Webb, want to know how DHCMT showed up in their urine. They question why anyone thinks a player trying to cheat would resort to an old-school steroid used by East German athletes in the 1970s and ‘80s when other substances are more difficult to detect. And they point to the inconsistency of one player, former Cardinals Cody Stanley, getting suspended twice, for 80 and 162 games, when other players avoided a second suspension after testing positive on multiple occasions. Experts now acknowledge that the M3 metabolite can linger in a person’s system for years, and the league’s approach to punishment seems to be evolving with its understanding of the science behind the substance.

The unofficial leader of these players, former Blue Jays first baseman Chris Colabello, says he made it his “mission” and “crusade” to understand why he and others tested positive for DHCMT, but that effort has taken a toll on his own mental health. Colabello, 36, says he became clinically depressed trying to come to terms with his 80-game ban in 2016, which effectively ended his major-league career. The two most recent players suspended 80 games without pay for DHCMT, Astros pitcher Kent Emanuel, 28, and Nationals catcher Tres Barrera, 25, reacted to their penalties in the same defiant spirit as Colabello. Emanuel released a video nearly 11 minutes long on Instagram raising questions about his suspension. Barrera went further, filing a lawsuit against Major League Baseball, the commissioner’s office, the league’s two drug-testing laboratories and the director of one of those labs.

“It’s the most excruciating emotional, physical pain you can ever imagine, being accused of something you didn’t do,” Barrera says, “It’s unbearable. You can’t eat. You can’t sleep. All I wonder is how, where, when? No one can answer those questions for me. When was it? Where is it? Where is it coming from? No one knows. And yet, I’m being punished for it.”

A judge in McAllen, Texas, denied Barrera’s request for a temporary restraining order that would have enabled him to rejoin the Nationals. Two agents who represent players suspended for DHCMT believe his lawsuit is likely to be dismissed because it lacks a scientific basis and includes an unrealistic class-action provision.

But Nationals reliever Sean Doolittle, who considers Barrera one of his best friends, harbors concerns that extend beyond the outcome of the lawsuit. Doolittle was rehabilitating a knee injury late in the 2019 season when he became close with Barrera, who was enjoying his first major- league call-up. He describes Barrera’s experience as frightening, saying that any player might be vulnerable because the tests have grown increasingly sensitive in recent years.

The UFC established a minimum threshold because it was not convinced athletes derive a performance-enhancing benefit from trace amounts of DHCMT. Chad Emmons, a pit crew member and strength with Stewart-Haas Racing who was suspended for the substance in October 2019, says NASCAR informed him it was adopting a similar “buffer” for its 2020 season.

Neither organization has a union that advocated for change. MLB does. And if the sport does not enact its own threshold, it will risk continuing to penalize players for a substance that is not helping them and does not have a clear origin, Doolittle and others say.

“I just think as the tests improve, it requires more responsibility to make sure we’re doing this the right way, in the spirit of the rules and in the spirit of cleaning up the game and to make sure we’re not indiscriminately punishing guys,” Doolittle says. “It’s not enough to just point to a positive test result and be like, ‘Look, the system is working.’ There is a track record here. This isn’t just me standing up for Tres, my teammate and good friend. There is a track record of 21 guys, all with really, really similar stories who have had really similar experiences after testing positive for this.

“I just think there is a lot of stuff we don’t know.”

The name should not be unfamiliar to baseball fans, or sports fans in general: Jeff Novitzky, 52, is the former federal agent who headed the 2002 investigation of BALCO, the Bay Area laboratory that allegedly supplied performance-enhancing drugs to athletes, including and former track star . Eight years later, he investigated cyclist , who eventually acknowledged using illegal substances and was banned from his sport.

Today Novitzky is attacking doping from a different position, as the senior vice president of athlete health and performance for UFC. On July 25, the day Barrera’s suspension was announced, he tweeted, “There is something screwy with this substance. We have athletes with small amounts of the DHCMT M3 metabolite in their systems for 2 and 3 years. It also ‘pulses’ … comes and goes. We don’t sanction any longer under our program if <100 picograms. Too many uncertainties.”

Illegal PEDs generally show up in urine in infinitesimally small amounts. A picogram is a unit of mass equal to a trillionth of a gram. The Astros’ Emanuel said he tested positive for seven picograms of DHCMT. Barrera’s lawsuit said he tested positive for 10. Novitzky says in the UFC program, a positive result of less than 100 picograms is reviewed as an “atypical” rather than “adverse” finding. The burden of proof is on UFC’s partner, the United States Anti-Doping Agency, to produce additional evidence of intent, knowledge or reckless disregard to elevate the finding to “adverse,” which could result in a sanction.

In adopting its 100-picogram standard, UFC actually followed the lead of MLB, which previously had set a threshold for other banned substances, some of which are found in meats. To this point, MLB does not believe a threshold for DHCMT would further its goal of eradicating PEDs, a source said.

Novitzky offers a different point of view.

He says the UFC considered its change in policy appropriate for several reasons, writing in an email, “first and most importantly, anti-doping experts have universally agreed that less than 100 picogram readings of M3 produce absolutely no athletic performance-enhancing benefits.” Novitzky adds that while the presence of the metabolite can be an indicator of past DHCMT ingestion, UFC has seen the long-term metabolite in numerous instances show up at low levels for months and sometime years without any presence of the parent compound or short- and mid-term metabolites that would indicate recent ingestion.

“You want to be fair to athletes,” says USADA’s chief science officer, Dr. Matthew Fedoruk. “If we know the amount of the substance in the urine is at such ultra-trace quantities, the athlete may have a very difficult time determining the source of that positive test. In the case of M3, one of the challenges is that it seems to persist for such a long period of time. Going back in time and trying to identify where it came from becomes challenging for an athlete. “The opposite side of the spectrum is that you don’t want to put a threshold in place that is so high that everybody gets off even though they’re an intentional user. The threshold that is used for the UFC program kind of balances those two ideas. We feel that is a fair way of managing cases … because there are a bunch of unknowns with how this particular metabolite is excreted.”

Emmons, the NASCAR pit-crew member and strength coach, did not break down crying when he learned of his positive test in September 2019 from Dr. Douglas Aukerman, the medical review officer of NASCAR’s drug-testing program. But his shock was similar to what Powell and other baseball players experienced.

Aukerman informed Emmons he had tested positive for 17 picograms of DHCMT, or Oral Turinabol. Emmons says he replied, “What’s that?” Aukerman then explained the substance was an anabolic steroid. Emmons recalls responding, “All right, this is a joke. I haven’t taken a steroid.”

On Oct. 8, 2019, NASCAR issued Emmons a Substance Abuse Penalty (SAP), which carries an indefinite suspension. Emmons then entered the organization’s Road to Recovery program, which included treatment, rehabilitation and counseling. He gathered he would need two negative tests to be reinstated.

Stewart-Haas Racing offers three levels of supplements, ranked by risk. Aukerman advised Emmons to stop taking any supplements he was using. Emmons says he complied with the doctor’s instructions, continuing only with whey protein, a National Science Foundation-certified product, as he sought to return to work as quickly as possible.

Ten days after his suspension, Emmons took another test in which he says his picogram was lower than 17, though he never was provided an actual number. The diminished level was encouraging. He thought he was on his way toward being cleared. But as he researched the story of UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones, whose levels of DHCMT continued to fluctuate after he served a 15-month suspension for the substance, he learned what baseball players also discovered – that the metabolite seems to “jump up and down at its own will.”

According to a diary Emmons kept of his experience, his test on Nov. 20 produced a reading of 23 picograms, and his test on Jan. 8 came back at 22. On Jan. 20, he participated in a conference call with Aukerman and Stewart-Haas Racing president Brett Frood.

“I’ve been talking to other colleagues about the M3 metabolite. This is what we’re going to do,” Emmons recalls Aukerman saying. “For this upcoming year, we’re going to create a buffer where if you have over 250 picograms of the metabolite you will be deemed a positive test. But if you have anything less whenever we randomly test you, you’re OK.”

Aukerman did not respond to a request for comment. NASCAR says it did not change its policy for 2020. But on Jan. 28, Emmons was reinstated, just in time for the start of the NASCAR season.

If UFC operates with a threshold and NASCAR was willing to reinstate Emmons, why wouldn’t Major League Baseball be open to the union’s proposal to forgive acceptably low levels of DHCMT?

“The only thing I can think of is a fear of the sanctions they’ve already imposed, admitting maybe they don’t know everything about this yet,” one drug-testing expert says.

The case of Stanley, the only player to receive two suspensions for DHCMT, is an example of a situation the league might handle differently today.

At the time of Stanley’s suspensions in September 2015 and July 2016, the prevailing scientific view was one that originated in a paper by Tim Sobolevsky and Grigory Rodchenkov suggesting the M3 metabolite would be detectable for up to 50 days. Sobolevsky and Rodchenkov published their findings in 2011, and no known study has been done since. DHCMT is illegal in the United States.

Baseball’s Joint Drug Agreement states a player “shall not be subjected to multiple disciplines of the same use of a prohibited substance.” Stanley, in his appeal of the second suspension, contended his positive test in December 2015 was a residual of his positive test from the previous July. The science then did not seem to support such arguments. Stanley lost his appeal, and continued testing positive after getting suspended again.

Scientists now believe the M3 metabolite could linger in a person’s system not merely up to 50 days, but for years. Barrera’s lawsuit states, “it is entirely possible that Plaintiff was exposed to DHCMT before he was drafted and signed a Minor League contract,” though no previous player who tested positive made such a claim.

Dr. Daniel Eichner, president of the Sports Medicine Research and Testing Laboratory in Utah – a World Anti-Doping Agency facility that the league uses for PED and now COVID-19 testing – acknowledged the peculiar behavior and difficulty in identifying the initial ingestion of the metabolite during testimony in February before the Nevada Athletic Commission, the Wall Street Journal said.

Stanley says he tested positive nine times in 17 tests between June 2015 and August 2017. The first three were positive, followed by a negative and six more positives before the rest were negative. He expected a lifetime ban for a third violation at the time of his second suspension, knowing he had tested positive again. But the ban never came.

Asher, meanwhile, says he tested positive at least twice, the first result coming in May 2016 and the second in March 2017. But unlike Stanley, he never received a second suspension. The seemingly greater leniency the league and union showed in the latter stages of both cases might be attributable to an increasing understanding at the time of the substance’s tendency to remain in the body for longer periods than scientists initially hypothesized. Dr. Christiane Ayotte, director of a WADA-accredited laboratory outside Montreal that the league uses, determines whether an additional positive test is residual, and not a new usage.

“After they suspended me that second time, there was no conversation about if I was going to get a lifetime ban,” says Stanley, who played for the first time since 2015 last season as a teammate of Colabello’s with the of the independent Atlantic League.

“More stories started to come out about people testing positive for this and I feel like that’s just when it got brushed under the rug. I know for a fact, 100 percent fact, that in 2016 multiple other players tested positive (a second time) and have not been suspended a second time. I’m the only one who has been suspended twice from multiple positive tests.”

The league and union declined to discuss individual cases, citing the confidentiality clause in the JDA. But while players continue to search for reasons they test positive, the league believes a simple explanation exists for those who show the M3 metabolite in their urine – they took DHCMT.

USADA’s Fedoruk agrees.

“There’s no doubt in my mind – and it has been published in the literature – that this particular metabolite arises from the ingestion of specific anabolic steroids,” Fedroruk says. “The question then becomes, where are these anabolic steroids coming from?”

The league says it has an answer for that, too: a 2016 memo citing 42 supplements, including some that are available at GNC, which can trigger a positive test for DHCMT. A league official cites two minor leaguers who tested positive and admitted to taking a high-risk supplement that was later confirmed to contain the substance. Fedoruk says the metabolite has not been found in meat or water, leaving high-risk supplements as “a likely source.”

The union has gone to significant lengths researching DHCMT, sources say, speaking to numerous scientists, retaining attorneys in the anti-doping world, spending a significant amount of money on trying to determine the sources of the substance. But for now, the exact answers, as with almost everything else involving DHCMT, remain unclear.

Internet searches bring painful reminders for players who were suspended for DHCMT, inescapable reports they say are misleading and often require an explanation for new acquaintances.

Asher: “A quick Google of Alec Asher, and the first thing that comes up is, ‘Tested positive for steroids.’ That was the thing that killed me the most about this whole situation: People are just going to look at me as a cheater when I’ve been playing this game my whole life the right way.”

Colabello: “Anytime anybody hears your name, they always ask the question. No matter what you say, no matter what you do, they question it. It’s the only thing I could never have prepared myself for as an athlete. If your career ends early or you play poorly or you get too old and can’t hack it anymore, you’re ready for those things in some capacity. I’m not saying it’s easy. But nobody can take away what you did at that point. In a lot of ways it just feels like people have tried to take what I accomplished away from me.”

Powell: “It pisses me off every day. It pisses me off more and more when I see other guys testing positive for it. That’s my biggest thing. I’m at peace with myself. I know deep down I didn’t do anything. All I want is one day for MLB to come out and say, ‘Boog, Tres, Chris, Cody – they did not take DHCMT. We made a mistake.’ That’s pretty much all we want. I just want my name cleared. That’s it. Money would be nice. But no, I just want my name cleared.”

Even if the league agrees to a 100-picogram threshold, it is unlikely to rewrite history in such fashion, just as it does not issue retroactive penalties for cheating or strip players of records or teams of championships. Erasing suspensions for DHCMT would be a particularly slippery slope, considering how even over the past five years, the testing standards have changed.

Labs did not start applying more precise measures to the M3 metabolite until 2018. Players suspended before then generally were told only that they tested positive for trace amounts. Those penalized more recently for picogram levels below 100 – Barrera and Emanuel, for example – might feel exoneration if the JDA is adjusted. But players such as Asher and Powell, who were suspended in 2016, could not cite such a specific reason in claiming their innocence.

The players do cite another motivation as they continue to seek change: a desire to prevent future players from experiencing the professional upheaval and emotional turmoil their own suspensions created.

“I’m tired of seeing these kids suffer the same way I did,” Asher says. “Honestly, I can 100 percent say it was the most miserable time in my life. I feel for these kids. I want it to stop at some point.”

Welcome to the club, buddy.

“It’s the most horrible feeling you can have,” Stanley says, “when you have nowhere to turn, no idea what’s going on.”

MLB TV ratings increase over last season, led by women and youth

By Daniel Kaplan

That Major League Baseball TV ratings are up in the first month of the abbreviated 2020 season is somewhat of a modest surprise, given the sport is competing with NBA and NHL playoffs and a crush of political and pandemic news — not to mention the longstanding narrative of a graying sport in decline.

But what is even more notable is the demographics fueling the rise: women and younger people, two groups that did not exactly flock to baseball in recent years (if not decades). The increases are seen in both national ratings, such as ESPN’s, and across the regional sports channels that air the bulk of MLB games.

“Considering all that MLB is up against this year at the start of its season, from COVID-19 to directly competing with the NHL and NBA playoffs, to getting underway at the heart of summer, these … stats are even more staggering,” according to Nielsen Media Research, which provided exclusive figures to The Athletic. “Young adults (females and males 18-24) have driven most of the overall viewing increases. Males 18-24 are up 26 percent going from 71,000 to 89,000 viewers across markets. And (f)emales 18-24 are up 41 percent going from 40,000 to 56,000 viewers.”

Nielsen analyzed TV viewership for the first 14 days of the 2020 MLB season (July 23-Aug. 5, 2020) compared to the same amount of time at the start of the 2019 season (March 28-April 10, 2019) for Regional Sports Networks (RSNs) across the 25 primary markets where a team resides. It found overall viewership rose 120,000 to 2.8 million viewers, a 4 percent rise.

“In the key local selling demo of persons 25-54, we see another positive female story, with females 25-54 viewing gains of 15 percent, going from 341,000 to 393,000 viewers,” Nielsen said. “Thinking about the composition of MLB regular season viewers, again comparing the first 14 days of this season to the same 14-day period last year in March and April, females 18-54 made up 14 percent of all persons watching MLB games last year. This year, that demo, for this comparison period, makes up almost 16 percent. Overall, younger people (persons under age 55) have gone from 44.1 percent of the audience in 2019 to 47.1 percent in 2020.”

Among individual RSNs, Nielsen reported “five (teams) stood out based on tremendous … growth in ratings for adults 18+. RSNs that cover teams in the San Diego, St. Louis, Cleveland, Cincinnati, and Minneapolis-St. Paul markets all showed at least a full rating point or more gain from the previous year. That equates to 25 percent+ growth in ratings for each of those markets.”

Sinclair Broadcast Group, which owns 21 RSNs, said through Aug. 10 ratings were up 9 percent. The company, which brands the channels under the banner Diamond Sports, declined to break down ratings by teams but offered the following comment from CEO Chris Ripley:

“These initial ratings are a testament to the value of the RSNs, which are poised for continued growth and immense opportunity as sports return. Most of these events are not canceled, only delayed, and we believe upon their full return we will see increased viewership across all leagues and networks.”

NBC Sports, which owns RSNs that broadcast the Chicago White Sox, , and , said ratings are up -digit percentages in each case.

The national picture is similar, with ESPN reporting its broadcasts averaging 1.052 million viewers, up 13 percent from the 2019 season average. Like with Nielsen, ESPN reported a big 55 percent increase with women aged 18-34, while the adults’ 18-34 group rose 45 percent.

Patrick Crakes, a former Fox Sports executive and current media consultant, cautions not to read too much into MLB’s increases, or for that matter declines in the NBA.

“If one sport right now is lagging while another sport is showing gains I just say, look, we’re in the beginning of playing out what the final is going to be here; you’ve got to look at the whole season,” he said. “But you know if we have a good (MLB) regular season … you know how it is going to work. If the World matchup isn’t what everybody wants in October and it’s a four-game sweep, we’ll have people writing stories about how baseball’s down.”

Indeed, Crakes’ old home, Fox Sports, is the outlier in the baseball rating story, with down numbers for its game of the week and Fox Sports 1 channel. A spokeswoman noted, “FOX has less games per window this season. Last year we typically aired 2-3 games per telecast. This year is 1-2 games per window. This year, every game on FS1 is not exclusive to FS1.”

The NBA was also finishing off its season and playing in a non-traditional window, while baseball’s season just started and the sport always plays in the summer.

Still, something seems to be boosting baseball. Like with any TV rating analysis, there is a lot of guesswork as to why.

“The pacing rule changes that were put into place, or were already put in place prior to this,” offered media consultant Lee Berke as a possible reason. “I don’t think anybody’s missing the number of pitching changes. Right? I don’t think anybody’s missing not moving too quickly to the next .”

Baseball installed the pace-of-game changes with the attention-challenged millennials in mind, so perhaps these results are early evidence the alterations designed to compress the time it takes to play are working. And Berke predicts MLB will do even better in the fall, and not just because the NBA and NHL playoffs are scheduled to conclude by then.

“TV, scripted TV series are not being made except amazingly enough for animation, because you can’t do that during the pandemic, and not producing miniseries nor producing movies,” he said. “So by fall, there is very little original TV opposite sport.”

Of course, come fall the 2020 presidential election will heat up. In 2016, the presidential contest took the blame for a decline in NFL ratings. But this time around, Crakes believes some of the crowd who tuned in to the brutal Clinton-versus-Trump election will switch to sports.

“Over the past four years, people kind of figured out how to normalize this out,” Crakes said. “That’s what seems to have happened. 2016 was kind of like, boom. And then everybody begins to adjust, right?… It seemed to stabilize. And I would think that we probably will see that. I don’t think we’ll see sports get impacted quite like we did in 2016.”

That’s all good news for MLB. Notably, amid the bounty of TV increases for baseball, there is one category that is down, and it’s again counterintuitive given the past: a decline in RSN viewing for men 55 years and up.

“Males 55+ are 7 percent lower, going from 960,000 in 2019 to 889,000 in 2020,” said Nielsen Media Research. “This is just through the first two weeks, however, and it’s necessary to keep an eye on how things progress over the season before drawing any definitive conclusions.”

This could mean that men in the age group are simply streaming more; it’s hard to know for certain. But according to MLB, “Through August 11, MLB.TV (the league’s streaming service) has set all-time records in total games watched (+11 percent vs. 2019) and total minutes watched (+29 percent vs. 2019).”

Braves hitting coach on what ails the offense and who’s thriving

By David O'Brien

With 25 games down and only 35 to go in this hyper-condensed season, the Braves went to their day off Thursday atop the NL East standings, despite injuries to key players and mostly bad pitching — in some cases alarmingly bad — from starters other than Max Fried.

But while much attention and concerns understandably have been focused on the starting rotation and the toll that its early exits are taking on a talented bullpen, the Braves also have been erratic with the bats.

Their offense has been robust for some stretches but underwhelming for others, and their soaring strikeout totals have bitten the Braves on many occasions when good situational hitting or merely putting the ball in play might’ve made a difference between a win and a loss.

For example, with a runner at third and less than two out entering Thursday, the Braves led the majors with 17 strikeouts and had the fourth- lowest average (.186) and fifth-lowest OPS (.665) — particularly costly considering the Braves were tied for the third-most at-bats in those situations.

It’s the kind of thing that can frustrate a hitting coach and have him seeing swings and misses in his sleep.

Veteran Braves hitting coach Kevin Seitzer has spent weeks making adjustments with hitters, going over video, showing players what they were doing differently when they were going well and generally trying to get a majority of Braves hitters going at the same time. He knows it can be a formidable offense if that happens.

But it’s obviously easier said than done, particularly with two of their most dynamic hitters, Ronald Acuña Jr. and Ozzie Albies, currently on the injured list with wrist ailments and hot-hitting Nick Markakis on the COVID-19 IL this week as a precaution after being exposed to the coronavirus.

Entering Thursday, the Braves were 10th in the majors in OPS (.762), 15th in on-base percentage (.322) and 10th in batting average (.253), and they had the second-most strikeouts (250) behind only Oakland (251).

And while Oakland could point to the fact it also led MLB in walks with 110, the Braves were just 14th with 81 walks — and that was with two teams right behind them, Texas (80 walks) and Philadelphia (76), that had played five fewer games than the Braves.

During an interview this week, Seitzer discussed the state of the Braves’ offense and status of several individuals. Some answers have been edited for clarity and brevity.

Four weeks into the season, are you seeing good things, or some things that have you concerned or worried?

I wouldn’t say worried. It’s part of the whole deal where you’ve got to make adjustments. We came out of the chute really swinging it on , then teams started really going to more secondary stuff against us. And we got a lot of chase, swing-and-miss. Guys were lighting it up on fastballs and then got away from their approach, is basically the bottom line. When you get away from staying in the middle of the field and grinding with two strikes the other way, you’re susceptible to chase and swing-and-miss, and they start chasing some sliders and then get a little careful and get some fastballs blown by them, more with two strikes. It’s just an adjustment right now that we’ve been having lots of conversations about, let’s put it that way. Adjustment time. Guess that’s what has contributed to the huge strikeout totals?

Yeah. Kills me. And the swing-and-miss. We’ve been swinging in (the strike) zone; we’ve had our share of chasing. A big stat that we look at is in- zone swing minus chase and what those numbers are. And it should be if you’re above 45 percent that’s good. But when you’re in-zone swinging and you have a high percentage of swing-and-missing, that’s not good. So it’s like when we’re putting balls in play, on fastballs and non-fastballs, we’ve done OK. But it’s still too much swing-and-miss for me. It’s all about making adjustments and working through it and getting better.

Austin Riley hit some sliders early — hanging sliders perhaps, but sliders — and then it seems like he’s getting caught in-between lately and missing a lot of pitches, like last year.

Yeah, and it goes back to him having to make the adjustments that he had a hard time making last year; he’s got to do it now. He did a lot of work to his swing in the offseason, really broke habits that needed to be broken. And now, bringing it all together, you’ve got to be in the right place between the ears. And it comes down to the same thing — getting some sliders that are strike-to-balls that you’re swinging at, and then you start to go, “I don’t want to chase those;” then you’re late on fastballs.

And it’s not just him. There’s a number of guys that have been going through it. It’s a matter of just moving your focus a little bit more to the other (opposite-field) gap, to where you see the secondary stuff better. And you don’t have to come off the ; you still want to be on the fastball. But you have to adjust your plan of what you’re hunting. If you’re going to move your approach over a little bit more the other way to see the secondary stuff longer, then you can’t go swinging at fastball sinkers in on your hands, because you’re going to get blown up. So, it’s a part of having the right plan, then swinging at the right pitches. And it’s why hitting’s so hard.

At spring training, both guys (Riley and Johan Camargo) who were competing for the third-base job had really good springs …

Yeah, tremendous spring.

… and now Camargo can’t hit either.

They’re both kind of going through the same thing. A lot of times Camargo’s problem is he’s trying to do a little too much. He’s overswinging and getting long with his stride, and then the bat drags. And when he stays short and compact — like the homer he hit at Yankee Stadium, I mean is a perfect example of the swing that we’re trying to get him to. Just quiet the lower half down and then stay short and let it work. We’ve got a number of guys that can be susceptible to some secondary stuff if they’re trying to do too much. That’s a common cause of all hitters, if you’re trying to get big and turn on fastballs you’re going to be vulnerable to the secondary stuff.

Acuña got hurt right just when it seemed like he had really come around and was starting to be Acuña.

On yeah, that was a crusher. You lose him and Albies, I mean that’s a big part of our offense and our defense. It was a big blow. It’s part of the game, and you’ve just got to grind through it. But Ronnie was really starting to come on. His at-bats were getting so much better. He was doing a lot of extra work in the cage every day with us. We had him on a nice routine of some drill stuff to allow him to get to fastballs at the top of the zone, and he was able to get to them and foul them off instead of swinging and missing.

He does a really good job of not chasing up there, swinging at the elevated stuff, but the strikes at the top of the zone, he was swinging through them every time. He’s a real good breaking-ball hitter, and once he got quieted down a little bit … he was kind of big and out of control (early). Along with the stride, it’s the same thing, that’s when guys get amped up. The bell rings, it’s season time, it’s go time, and then all of a sudden they can start jumping halfway to the mound to try and go get stuff, and that’s not a good thing.

There were quite a few other really good players around the league, like , who got off to terrible starts. Do you think that had something to do with the short ramp-up following the 3 ½-month shutdown?

Yeah. It was almost like we had the perfect, normal tempo through spring training as far as our work goes in preparation for the season, and then boom, we shut down. And then it was, “OK, now we’ve got another offseason,” is what it felt like. And then (MLB said), “OK, we’re good to go,” and they had to ramp up (at summer camp) in half the time. It’s not easy. I mean … it’s just a weird year, let’s put it that way.

Guys like Ozzie and Acuña, so much of their power and bat speed comes from strong wrists. Does hitting so much — you can’t keep them out of the cage, and I know they hit like crazy during the shutdown — does it just build up some time with younger guys, the wrist injuries?

You know, I think everybody’s different. Who knows what caused it? I wouldn’t say either one of them overworked through the second spring training. They were doing their work, doing their normal routines and getting ready. It wasn’t like there was excessive swinging going on, ramped up too quick or anything that could cause something like that. I mean, both of them were healthy as horses through the second spring training, and it all happened after the season started.

What about , after missing most of summer camp due to COVID-19, he started slow but then heated up. Have you seen some good signs from him lately?

Yeah, he’s really feeling good. When you have that short of a time to get ready, and then it’s go time — he’s an absolutely special, special hitter. And a gamer, and wanted to be out there. But he went from having the virus and not being able to do anything to, all of a sudden, “OK, you’ve got five days to get your at-bats,” and then. “Oh, by the way, you’re playing every day.” Legging out (doubles) and running the bases, and then the body gets sore, and then you have to play through that, and the timing’s not there yet. I mean, it’s hard enough for the guys who had three full weeks, and Freddie had five days. But he’s doing a lot better.

He was actually in so much better place than I expected when the season started, too, that it was like, “OK, it shocks me but it doesn’t shock me.” That’s who he is. But he’s feeling much better right now.

Dansby Swanson got off to a great start, then hit a lull, but he’s hitting again, and even when he was slumping, he was hitting balls hard.

He got off to such a great start. He was driving the ball, he had a couple of homers, had some gappers, and same thing happened to him — started trying to do a little too much, got a little big, a little hard, a little tight and lost his approach too. It was more, “OK, I’m feeling really good, now let’s go.” And you get vulnerable that way. So, he’s really, especially the last few games, really locked in on staying in the middle of the field the other way. That’s what’s allowing him to stay on secondary stuff.

He’s a talented kid, and what a blow Monday. (Swanson’s walk-off homer). That was like — I could probably, in the last two or three years, think of 50 games where I said, “Oh my gosh, that was the best game I’ve ever been part of.” (Seitzer laughs.) It’s cool.

In that four-run ninth inning capped by Dansby’s walk-off homer, you had contributions from guys who really have been big for you, including ’s two-run homer. How clutch have Duvall and Markakis been?

Oh, yeah. I mean Nicky, he had a week (to get ready after initially opting out of the season at the start of summer camp). He was shut down, and then had a week and comes out, and he’s having just stinking midseason professional at-bats like he always does. At 36. It’s impressive. So it’s really good to have him back. Duvey’s had some big blows. We’ve got some guys that are picking it up a little bit, so hopefully, we can get on a little bit of a roll here. Hopefully, that (walk-off win) jump-starts us into something special for a while. So we’ll see.

You’ve gotten major contributions from guys like Duvall and your . If you get your big guys going — Ozzie and Acuña and Freddie is back to being Freddie — this offense could really be something, huh?

Yeah, we expected to have a pretty potent offense. So, we get everybody back and get them into the swing of things, we’ll see. The big thing is just not to rush back and then have setbacks. So I’m hoping they get feeling really good and can stay healthy the rest of the way and see what happens.

Such a short season, you can’t really afford to have setbacks once they return.

Right. Exactly.

You’ve gotten such strong offense from your catchers, Travis d’Arnaud and . That’s got to be a pleasant surprise to get that kind of consistent production from them, no? But d’Arnaud can just hit, man.

Yeah, I didn’t really know much about him until he came here. I just told him about 45 minutes ago, “Don’t take this the wrong way.” I said, “You have some kind of impressed me as a frickin’ hitter.” I mean, just a serious idea, serious game plan, great approach. He picks his spots when he’s going to (swing) early. Last night I said, “Dude, you had great at-bats.” He goes, “Yeah, I decided I was going to move my approach over a little bit more over the other way, because I’m sick and tired of striking out chasing sliders.” He goes, “I was able to lay off some and draw a walk.” Yeah, he’s a pretty talented kid, and he’s a lot like Markakis as far as his demeanor goes. He’s quiet, doesn’t say too much and just works his butt off. He’s prepared, competes like a madman. We’ve had pretty good catching tandems around here, from the time when we had (Kurt) Suzuki and Flow, and now Travis and Flow. It’s been good. They handle a pitching staff really good, and it’s been fun.

And what about early on, did you like what you saw from (catching prospect William) Contreras?

Yeah. I was pleasantly surprised, especially coming off a rough year last year. He filled out a lot. He looked like a man. Put on some good muscle, and his swing leverage — I was excited about what I saw with him in the brief showing that he had.

Wall Street Journal

The Best Young Player in Baseball Swings on 3-0. Here’s Why Everyone Should.

Fernando Tatís Jr. inadvertently drew attention to a surprising victim of baseball’s data revolution: the automatic take sign when the count is 3-0.

By Jared Diamond

Fernando Tatís Jr., the ’ 21-year-old shortstop, has emerged as the biggest story in baseball this week for a perplexing reason: He had the audacity to try to do his job as well as he could. With his team up by seven runs in the eighth inning Monday night, Tatís blasted a three-balls, no-strikes meatball 407 feet into the sea of cardboard cutouts in the right-center field seats for a . The hit set off a firestorm: reliever Ian Gibaut responded by hurling a fastball behind the next batter, All-Star , resulting in a three-game suspension. Rangers manager Chris Woodward admonished Tatís for swinging at a 3-0 pitch with such a big lead, saying, “I didn’t like it, personally.”

Even Tatís’s own skipper, , called the situation a “learning opportunity.” The episode launched the same fierce, albeit predictable, debate about “unwritten rules” that arises every time somebody allegedly breaks one of them in this hidebound industry.

But the frenzy surrounding whether Tatís violated some gentleman’s code of sportsmanship misses the point. He inadvertently drew attention to a surprising victim of baseball’s data revolution: the automatic take sign when the count is 3-0. A strategy seen as a foregone conclusion for generations starting in Little League is dead.

“Everyone should hit 3-0,” Johnny Bench, the legendary Cincinnati Reds catcher, wrote on on Tuesday.

That has never been the case historically. In 2009, hitters swung on a 3-0 count just 5% of the time. That number has steadily risen in the decade since, reaching 11% last season, the highest since Stats LLC began keeping track of such curiosities in 1988. Given the longstanding maxim of letting a pitch go by after three consecutive balls, it’s likely an all-time record.

Looking at the numbers, it isn’t difficult to see why the thinking has changed. When hitters swing on 3-0, they tend to inflict serious damage. Since 2015, they have posted a .394 batting average and a ridiculous .829 on those pitches, according to MLB’s statistics-tracking Statcast system.

If batters take a strike and allow the count to move to 3-1, those numbers fall to .362 and .678, respectively—still absurdly great, but not nearly as great as when they swing away on 3-0.

“I’ve been in situations where I’ve gotten 3-0 cookies and I’ve taken them and the next pitch has been painted and I’ve struck out, and I walk back to the kicking myself in the butt because I didn’t swing at that 3-0 pitch,” first baseman said.

Hitting today is more challenging than ever before. Pitchers throw fewer fastballs than at any point in history, but when they do unleash a heater, it travels with an unprecedented average velocity frequently approaching—or even surpassing—100 mph. Breaking balls cut and dive and spin in ways that appear to defy the laws of physics. Players across the majors entered Thursday with the lowest collective batting average since 1968, the year before MLB lowered the mound to promote more offense.

Only on 3-0 can batters dig into the box and feel reasonably comfortable they will see a pitch they actually have a chance of hitting. Pitchers threw a fastball about 95% of the time in those counts last season, in part to avoid the embarrassment of a four-pitch walk, but also because decades of conventional wisdom say the hitter won’t swing. On 3-1, the fastball rate dropped to below 79%.

That matters, because major-league hitters feast on fastballs. They hit .274 on them last season, compared with .223 on all other pitch types, which explains why pitchers tend to avoid throwing fastballs as much as possible these days.

So while the 3-0 “green light” has traditionally only been bestowed upon the most fearsome sluggers—and even then only under specific circumstances—the evidence suggests all hitters should be authorized to hack away in those counts. While it could result in outs on plate appearances that otherwise might have ended with a walk, the added possibility of a double or a makes it worth the risk.

“It’s pretty hard to hit a grand slam, so whatever count you want to try to hit one in, go for it,” ace Gerrit Cole said.

Some hitters, even elite ones, don’t like to swing on 3-0. Mike Trout told the Los Angeles Times last year that he’s “just never gotten comfortable doing it,” and he’s the best player on the planet. He said that the pressure often leads to him swinging wildly, trying too hard to hit the ball far.

But even Trout has gotten in on the 3-0 parade this year. His first home run of 2020 came on a 3-0 count, the first time he had done that in his career. Afterward, manager Joe Maddon called it “the right thing to do on his part.”

It was certainly the right thing to do for Tatís on Monday, and the mayhem following his grand slam only added to his growing legend. He entered Thursday leading the majors in home runs, RBIs, runs scored, and steals, establishing himself as one of the most electrifying players in baseball.

He also has no problem swinging away on 3-0—even with a big lead. Never mind that nine times last season, a team came back from a deficit of seven runs or more to win.

Still, the 66-year-old Maddon said on Tuesday “For us, if we had a very large lead, more than likely you would not see a guy swing at a 3-0 pitch.” (The Angels have one of the worst records in the American League, so that hasn’t been much of an issue for them.)

As the controversy raged, players current and former rushed to Tatís’s defense, including a bunch of opposing pitchers, who encouraged him to keep swinging on 3-0 if he wanted, no matter the score. “I’ve been in the game since I was a kid, and I know a lot of unwritten rules,” said Tatís, whose father played 11 major-league seasons himself. “I was kind of lost on this one. They told me after five [runs ahead], seven, after six, something like that. From those experiences, you’ve got to learn from it. Probably next time I’ll take a pitch.”

The next day against the Rangers, with the Padres leading by six runs, Tatís stole third base. This time, nobody seemed to mind.

New York Times

Baseball’s Unwritten Rules: Where Does It Say You Can’t Do That?

Fernando Tatis Jr.’s grand slam with a big lead set off a new round of pearl-clutching. But even he didn’t understand what he had done wrong.

By Victor Mather

Earlier this week, Fernando Tatis Jr. of the San Diego Padres hit a grand slam, a seemingly exciting moment for player, fans and teammates.

But because he had done it when his team was leading by seven runs, the blast earned him a postgame rebuke from his manager.

Tatis, you see, had broken one of baseball’s unwritten rules. Those rules can be mystifying and arbitrary to the casual fan, and sometimes to the hard-core one as well. “Violations” of these “rules” cause controversies in the game more often than you would think.

Tatis’s offense was swinging at a 3-0 pitch when his team had a 10-3 lead in the eighth inning. “He’s young, a free spirit,” Padres Manager Jayce Tingler told reporters after the game late Monday night. “It’s a learning opportunity, and that’s it. He’ll grow from it.”

Could there really be a bad time to hit a grand slam?

“In this game in particular, we had a little bit of a comfortable lead,” Tingler said of what eventually became a 14-4 win over the Texas Rangers. “We’re not trying to run up the score or anything like that.”

That all came as a surprise to Tatis.

“I know a lot of unwritten rules,” he said. “I was kind of lost on this.

“Probably next time, I’ll take a pitch.”

If you find it baffling that a player should let a good pitch go by rather than, say, hit a grand slam, you are not alone. Even rival players came to Tatis’s defense.

“Keep swinging 3-0 if you want to, no matter what the game situation is,” Reds pitcher Trevor Bauer wrote on Twitter. “The only thing you did wrong was apologize. Stop that.”

“If you don’t like giving up 3-0 grand slams, pitch better,” said Colin Poche, a pitcher.

Even a Hall of Famer weighed in.

“Everyone should hit 3-0. Grand slams are a huge stat,” Johnny Bench said.

It’s hard to make a list of baseball’s unwritten rules because, well, they’re unwritten. But in many cases they revolve around not showing up the opposition and not running up the score, of playing the game “the right way,” though that standard is similarly undefined. (There are also superstitions, like not talking about no-hitters.)

For the uninitiated, here are a few other violations to be wary of.

Don’t steal bases when your team is way ahead.

Rickey Henderson stole a base, something he did more than anyone else in baseball. But because his Padres led the Brewers, 11-5, in that game in 2001, the opposing manager, Davey Lopes, took exception, charging onto the field and threatening to have a pitcher throw at Henderson the next time he was up. (He didn’t get the chance. Henderson was prudently pulled from the game.)

Henderson may have had a good excuse for breaking the rule, though: It was later reported that he had been asleep in the clubhouse and didn’t know the score when he was sent out as a pinch-runner.

Don’t to break up a no-hitter. Curt Schilling of the Diamondbacks was five outs from a . Ben Davis of the Padres broke it up by beating out a bunt. The tactic drew the ire of the Arizona bench. But the Padres were just as mad.

“We’re all tied for first place and we’re trying to win the game and they’re up there screaming at him because he dropped a bunt down,” the Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn told The San Diego Union-Tribune after the 2001 game. “So what? Who cares? We’re trying to win the game. They’re all hooting like we ain’t supposed to try to win a game.”

Don’t flip your bat or otherwise preen after a home run.

There’s nothing like a flamboyant bat flip to incense an opposing team. There have been many over the years, but the top prize still may go to Jose Bautista for the Blue Jays in the 2015 .

After he connected, Bautista froze at the plate watching the ball, then sent his bat deep into foul territory with a muscular hurl.

“He’s doing stuff kids do in Wiffle ball games,” Rangers reliever groused.

Don’t watch your homers land, and circle the bases quickly.

A first-inning home run by Max Muncy of the Dodgers in San Francisco last season left the park and landed in McCovey Cove. What irritated Giants pitcher , though, was the few moments Muncy spent watching it leave the park.

The two exchanged words even as Muncy finally circled the bases. Muncy related afterward: “He said, ‘Don’t watch the ball, you run.’ I just responded back, ‘If you don’t want me to watch the ball, you can go get it out of the ocean.’”

The only thing a humbled pitcher dislikes more than a slow start out of the batter’s box, though, is a slow home run trot.

Rhys Hopkins of the Phillies took 34 seconds to get around the bags in a game against the Mets in 2019, the slowest time in five years, according to Statcast. Perhaps he was motivated by two brushback pitches the night before by the same pitcher, Jacob Rhame.

Rhame took the high road. “He got me,” he said. “If I make a better pitch, he doesn’t get to run the bases.”

Don’t step on the mound.

Pitchers are protective of the mound.

During a game in 2010, Alex Rodriguez of the Yankees was returning to first from third after a when he took the direct round — over the pitching mound. His bigger unwritten-rules violation, though, was letting his feet touch the rubber. It was enough for pitcher Dallas Braden of the A’s to yell at him on the field, and then go on a seven-minute postgame tirade.

“If my grandmother ran across the mound, she would have heard the same thing he heard — period,” Braden said. “That’s the way I handle the game and the way I handle myself on my workday. That’s just the way it is. I would never disrespect anybody like that.”

Braden’s complaints were “pretty funny, honestly,” said Rodriguez, adding he had no idea what he did wrong.

Don’t dismiss tradition.

While the unwritten rules can seem foolish sometimes, the former major leaguer Doug Glanville sees some value in them.

“Our lives are enveloped in unwritten rules that cover safety, politeness, respect, etiquette, money and so on,” he once wrote in The New York Times. “These are ways to acculturate a new generation in tradition, and doing that empowers that generation to take ownership, invest and evolve them.”

He added: “As a former big leaguer, I roll my eyes in isolated cases and think baseball players’ ideas on unwritten rules are silly and uptight, or even culturally insensitive to baseball’s evolving diversity. But I also see behind the bravado.

“Veterans and rookies, retired players and coaches engage across team loyalties about how they want the culture of the game to move forward. Imperfect, but considerably better than rejecting all lessons of the past — or, worse, ignoring them completely.”

And how has Tatis assimilated the lessons of the past? Despite his contrition after the game in which he hit a late grand slam, he returned the next night and stole third. His team was up by six runs at the time.