Baseball needs more of Trevor Bauer’s fresh mentality after Fernando Tatis Jr. home run celebration

Fernando Tatis Jr. got the best of Trevor Bauer on Saturday night, with a memorable celebration to boot, but Bauer has a fresh mentality baseball needs more of.

No sport has more “unwritten rules” than baseball. One of those rules is not showing up your opponent after hitting a home run, with a bat flip or any other excessive celebration of any kind. Fernando Tatis Jr. is a symbol of stretching that boundary, and he did it to Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Trevor Bauer on Saturday night.

Tatis hit two home runs off Bauer, during an otherwise pretty clean outing for the right-hander (six innings, five hits, three runs allowed-two earned, nine strikeouts, no walks).

During a spring training outing against the San Diego Padres, Bauer said he pitched with one eye shut to have “a little bit of fun.” Tatis covered one eye on his first home run trot, and when he hit his second the Padres dugout did it as he unveiled a little strut-pause approaching third base.

Trevor Bauer has the right perspective, which baseball needs more of

Bauer, to be frank and independent of his talent as a pitcher, opens himself up to criticism from traditionalists with the things he says and does. When asked about Tatis’ home run celebrations, because of course he was asked lest he say something controversial or inflammatory to baseball’s new best rivalry, Bauer showed the perfect perspective.

“I like it,” he said. “I think that pitchers that have that done to them and react by throwing at people — I think it’s pretty soft. If you give up a homer, a guy should celebrate it. It’s hard to hit in the big leagues.”

Bauer likes to call out the stuffiness of baseball, long advocating for players showing emotion on the field and regularly doing so himself. As the sport struggles to get younger fans, Bauer’s perspective here is important and much-needed. It’s okay to celebrate success and have some fun in a moment on the field, and it’s okay to not be offended when you’re on the other end.