Padres’ Fernando Tatis Jr. gets real on off-field incidents that halted his hot start in MLB

2022 was an especially trying year for Padres right fielder Fernando Tatis Jr., the right fielder who’s looking to recapture his magic.

Fernando Tatis Jr. did nothing but rake since bursting onto the scene with the San Diego Padres in 2019. At age 20, Tatis hit 22 home runs in just a little over a half a season’s worth of games (84) with a stellar OPS of .969. Tatis was on the verge of becoming the face of the MLB, as he blended superstar-level performance at the plate, youthful exuberance, and an infectiously joyful personality. Alas, the Tatis hype train faced a considerable halt in 2022, as the MLB suspended the Padres star for 80 games due to PED usage, causing him to miss the entire season.

Now, Tatis is back, but his star has dimmed considerably. Not only has his PED-related suspension tainted his image in the eyes of many, his performance level has dropped a bit from the top-tier level he played at in his first three seasons in the MLB. But there is more to the Padres right fielder’s career than meets the eye.

Many understandably hitched their wagons on Fernando Tatis Jr. when his star was skyrocketing during his first few seasons in the league. But all the glitz and glamour has its drawbacks, with the Padres star admitting that the attention he drew almost became too much for him to deal with.

“It was a lot,” Tatis said, per Brittany Ghiroli of The Athletic. “It was a lot more than baseball. I don’t want to say I got misguided, but sometimes I got a little bit distracted.”

Perhaps Fernando Tatis Jr. recaptures the magic he had from 2019 to 2021, when he was one of the league’s brightest stars. Maybe some time away from the brightest of spotlights could help the Padres right fielder; after all, he is only 25 years old, smack dab in the middle of his athletic prime.

Padres will need Fernando Tatis Jr. to be at his best

The value Fernando Tatis Jr. brought to the table was immense during his first few seasons in the MLB. He was passable to slightly above average at shortstop, which added a ton of value to the Padres roster. And that, of course, was in addition to his elite hitting ability.

Tatis had an OPS of .965 from 2019 to 2021, and he hit 81 home runs in 1036 at bats, which means that he was good for a dinger on every 12.8 ABs. He was a monster per-plate appearance producer. However, he has yet to reach those lofty heights upon his return to the Padres lineup in 2023, and now that he’s playing a significantly less difficult position in the diamond, the standard for his hitting has only gotten higher.

While Fernando Tatis Jr. is no slouch at the plate by any means, his peripherals have dipped considerably. His walk rate is down, and his power production is nowhere near what he displayed from 2019 to 2021. Tatis has done well to slash his strikeout rate considerably, but his quality of contact has declined, as evidenced by steep drop-offs in his batting average in balls in play as well as his isolated power.

At present, Tatis is slashing .249/.329/.410. Those are solid numbers, but not particularly All-Star worthy. The Padres need him to be better so they could legitimately challenge for an NL Wild Card spot. Tatis’ track record lends plenty of credence to the idea that he could explode for the better at any moment.