What's Ailin' Old Fernando?

by MetsGeek on Jun 26, 2009 10:41 AM EDT

Fernando Tatis, 2008 Comeback Player of the Year, has had an extremely down 2009. After posting a .372 wOBA in ’08, Tatis is down to .301 this year. His only saving grace has been his plus defense at first base (1.5 UZR) and left field (1.6 UZR). SNY announcers Ron Darling and Keith Hernandez have said that it looks like Tatis’s stance is different this year, leading him to flail off-balanced at pitches away. Do the numbers corroborate the claim?

Year	LD%	GB%	FB%	FB/HR%	K%
2008	25.6	42.3	32.1	15.9	21.6
2009	16.3	55.0	28.7	5.4	7.3

Wow. It seems as though Ron and Keith may be right after all. Tatis is striking out a rate about 1/3 as much as last year, but this hasn’t been a good thing for him, since his BABIP is just .264 (after .345 last year). From watching him play, it seems as though Tatis is more slouched over, trying to just make contact, whereas last year he was more upright, trying to hit the ball hard. Once again, the numbers seem to agree:

Year	O-Swing %	O-Contact %	Z-Contact %
2008	22.4	60.2	83.0
2009	24.1	70.3	90.5

So it looks like Tatis is not only making more contact, but he’s making it on pitches he probably shouldn’t be swinging at anyway. Maybe his high BABIP last year made him think that putting the ball in play would undoubtedly lead to a higher average. Regardles, Tatis’s problems are fixable, and hopefully he’ll be able to rebound for a stronger second half.

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I'm rooting for the guy

I mean, he is using his money to build a church.

You know what would be good, if someone could find some video of his swing from last year vs. his swing from this year? Unfortunately MLB hates the idea of making it easy for fans to follow their sport and don’t allow video to be posted on YouTube, making it much harder to track stuff like that down, esp. b/c I find the MLB.com video stuff difficult to navigate.

by cjmulrain on Jun 26, 2009 11:13 AM EDT reply actions

I'm rooting for the guy, too, but...

this is yet another example of Omar simply hoping that someone can replicate a prior year’s performance instead of signing someone with an actual track record, or having a decent contingency plan ready.

Injuries, injuries, injuries, I know. But the fact that Tatis was batting cleanup the other night is ridiculous.

We've got ourselves a ball club, the Mets of New York town!

by kingcritical on Jun 26, 2009 11:29 AM EDT up reply actions

I wish he held onto Darren Oliver and Chad Bradford

I’m glad he held onto Endy Chavez. But he should have let go of Easley and Perez, perhaps Valentine/Alou/Orlando (in retrospect.) I don’t know, I feel like it’s difficult to decide whose going to regress and who just had a rough couple of seasons prior and most of the complaints are made retrospectively or at least quietly during the resigning without suggestions for who the person would rather have (not singling you out.) By the bye, Tatis batting 4th is on Manuel.

by Sokojoe on Jun 26, 2009 11:38 AM EDT up reply actions

my point is that Tatis should be a bench player

Not a platoon starter on Opening Day.

We've got ourselves a ball club, the Mets of New York town!

by kingcritical on Jun 26, 2009 11:48 AM EDT up reply actions

Thats fair,

but I think the platoon had more to do with flaw in the thinking that Murphy was ready to be an everyday player sans against LHP than Tatis being worthy of being a semi-regular, but who knows.

by Sokojoe on Jun 26, 2009 11:54 AM EDT up reply actions

OPPs

Just read Jason’s comment below.

by Sokojoe on Jun 26, 2009 11:55 AM EDT up reply actions

I was on board with bringing him back

He can play multiple positions (albeit not very well, but still) and has decent RH pop off the bench for a team that’s loaded with lefties (current affinity for GIDP notwithstanding). And it’s not like he was expensive.

The problem was handing Murphy a corner OF spot.

by jasondg on Jun 26, 2009 11:51 AM EDT up reply actions

I agree

Instead of realizing how much accessibility YouTube would give fans, MLB continues its eternal rationale of “Why don’t we try that on our own, only let’s make it really complicated/expensive.” They’ve done this with videos, merchandise (a keychain costs about $20 in the MLB.com store), and just about everything else.

"I have discovered in twenty years of moving around a ball park, that the knowledge of the game is usually inverse in proportion to the price of the seats." - Bill Veeck

by Prince on Jun 28, 2009 2:17 PM EDT up reply actions

He's just coming back to reality. He had a hell of a year last year...

and I had no problem with him coming back, but counting on him to platoon with Murph was a bit much. He can still get it turned around and be a valuable bat off the bench once the injuries subside.

That’s where he belongs at this point in his career and I think he can have good value for us as long as he’s not playing 5 days a week.

Everyone is entitled to be stupid, but Jerry abuses the privilege.

by AnthonyR on Jun 26, 2009 11:52 AM EDT reply actions

agreed.

We've got ourselves a ball club, the Mets of New York town!

by kingcritical on Jun 26, 2009 12:50 PM EDT up reply actions

I wonder how much of his troubles can be linked to his seperated shoulder last year.

He didn’t have surgery, instead just rehab and rest, and IMO not having a healthy shoulder could lead to more ground balls.

by twon8 on Jun 26, 2009 4:19 PM EDT reply actions

Nice job

I particularly like the description of him last year as more “upright”. He always seemed to had this odd stiffness about him when he’d take good swings last year, and I feel like I haven’t noticed that nearly as much this year. I think the most jarring thing is the power drop. That was the one thing I expected him to maintain, since even during his minor league tenure in 2007 and early 2008, it seemed like he was really flashing some legitimate pop.

"All energy flows according to the whims of the great magnet

What a fool I was to defy him"

-HST

by Mark Himmelstein on Jun 26, 2009 4:33 PM EDT reply actions

Maybe its becuase he sucks

He had a nice year last year. However, I think the Mets looked at his numbers last year and expected the same, which is foolish. The guy was out of baseball for a long stretch. I not surprised at all.

Lopez wants it away, and it's hit deep to left center, Andruw Jones on the run, this one has a chance... home run!!, Mike Piazza!, and the Mets lead 3 to 2!!
-Howie Rose
Gary Thorne=Simply the Best!

by The American Mr.Hockey on Jun 28, 2009 12:14 PM EDT reply actions