The wrinkle in Tatis' walk-off HR
Why did Fernando Tatis Jr. twitch his hips a second early before hitting his 1st career walk-off home run? I think I know why.
On Tuesday night, in the bottom of the 9th inning in a tie-game between the San Diego Padres and Los Angeles Angels, Fernando Tatis Jr. hit a walk-off 2-run home run that sent the baseball world into a frenzy.
Now, since everyone here is (probably) a Padres fan and I am a generous host, here's a video of the moment so that you can take a second to enjoy it again:
On yesterday's Section 1904 podcast, Darren and I both marveled at the twitch in Tatis' hips that happens a split-second before he hits the ball over the outfield wall. Darren even went as far as asking the local media to ask Tatis what the heck was going on there.
While NBC's Darnay Tripp responded and let us know that he would try to do exactly this the next time the Padres are in town, I think I have actually figured out what's going on here.
If you'd believe it, Tatis was fooled. Not by the pitch, but Kenley Jansen did something to screw up Tatis' timing. For a normal person, it would've worked. For Tatis, it somehow didn't matter. Allow me to explain.
The Inspiration
Earlier today, I was reading a bit of a series recap and look forward for the Padres from Letters to A.J. and the author pointed out that Tatis had Jansen timed perfectly through the first four pitches of the at-bat before jumping early at the final pitch.
The theory given as to why he might've jumped early was that Jansen likes to "wiggle" on the mound before actually starting his pitching motion. And, while this is true, I watched the final pitch thrown by Jansen and had a weird thought.
"Did he just pause in the middle of delivering the pitch?!?"
