Certainly a good chunk of the animosity is from a lack of education among Mets fans. Tatis has posted numbers in each of the last two seasons that are well above the level of replacement player and much better than what most teams will get from their utility guys. In addition, most of the bench players that will hit the way Tatis hits play fewer positions in the field and/or do not run nearly as well as Tatis does.
We're talking about a guy who continues to post an OPS over .800 (some of our starters can't even do that), kills left-handed pitching, and can play a fair 3B, 1B, LF and RF. He can even play some 2B in a bind.
Another important fact: He responds in the clutch. With runners on base, Fernando is good at getting the bat on the ball and putting it in play hard somewhere. This season already he's 2-for-4 in huge 2-out RISP situations. He's hitting over .400 with runners on base, and he's hitting his best when the game is close and late.
Finally, those with a well-trained eye would notice that he has an ideal approach at the plate in regards to hitting fastballs and off-speed pitches. Tatis often drives the fastball to right-center, and pulls the off-speed stuff. He's an above average off-speed pitch hitter, which is a nice thing to have in a guy who is going to start on certain days and who is your first pinch hitter in a key spot against a left-handed reliever.
The proverbial cherry on top is the fact that he hustles like a madman on the bases, running hard at all times, and he has a decent disposition. He's thankful to be with the team and glad he can help. No sour grapes with this man, who has already been down and out (of baseball) once in his career. He almost sees things the way a fan does ... in that he is happy to have such a wonderful job.
His only real downside, which is quite common to all right-handed power bats, is that he rolls over on pitches at times, making him susceptible to double plays. Last year he had an inordinate amount of them over the first half of the season. He grounded into 11 double plays in the first half of last year, but only twice in the entire second half. His second half was fantastic, in fact, because he hit .317 with an .844 OPS.
So the next time you feel like bashing Fernando or screaming for his departure ... ask yourself why. Is your vision clouded by unrealistic expectations (do you expect you utility players to post All-Star offensive numbers)? Are you unable to see past the fluke-like string of double plays he hit into in the first half of 2009? Or are you just guilty of wanting to see new faces - change for the sake of change - because the Mets starters haven't gotten the job done for the past few seasons? Don't blame the utility guy because the Mets can't find a first baseman and they continue to fall back on Tatis as a platoon player there. Let's show Fernando some love ... especially as he continues to exceed the normal productivity of a utility player at this level.
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