CHICAGO – Fernando Tatis Jr. has battled to the end and is ready to end the season.
“I’m tired,” he said Saturday afternoon, sighing and then laughing.
Tatis is eager to get back on the field ahead of next season. He is expected to play for Estrellas de Oriente in the Dominican Winter League for at least a few weeks in late November or early December.
But first, get some rest.
“This is huge,” Tatis said. “Part of getting better is getting proper rest. It won’t be like I go home and sleep for a month.
Maybe just a week. And then, a normal offseason before a normal season.
“I am definitely going to start preparing for a beautiful 2024 right now,” he said. “I think it’s going to be a really great offseason.”
For one thing, he won’t be wearing the cast, which he wore for most of the final three months of 2022.
“I couldn’t do anything last offseason,” he said.
Tatis missed the entire 2022 season due to wrist surgery and a suspension, and three more surgeries in the fall and winter limited how physically he could prepare. After shoulder surgery, second wrist surgery, and then a wrist screw removal procedure in December, Tatis did not return to baseball activity until January.
He participated in spring training, played two weeks in the minor leagues, and debuted in the Padres’ 21st game.
All things considered, it was a good comeback season. He entered the final game of the season on Saturday batting .259/.323/.452 with 25 home runs and 29 stolen bases. He also quickly learned a new position well enough to be considered a potential National League Gold Glove winner in right field.
Perhaps most notable is that it was a sustainable season.
Tatis, who is one of eight players in MLB with at least 25 home runs and 25 stolen bases this season, has started 139 of the Padres’ 141 games since returning from his PED suspension on April 20. That’s seven more than his start in 2021, 80 more than in ’20, 57 more than his rookie year in ’19, and 10 more than the start of the minor-league season.
Before Saturday, he had batted .225 with a .629 OPS in 19 games since September 6. He was batting .265 with a .798 OPS in 120 games by that point, which was well below his career numbers entering the season, but good enough. His offseason was encouraging considering he had never played this much in his professional career.
Tatis said of his finish, “I couldn’t perform the way I’m capable of.” “I don’t know. A lot of factors. My swing was feeling better, then I lost it. Just couldn’t execute like I wanted.”
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Padres’ projected lineup
Padres manager Bob Melvin has already established his new top four in the batting order with Tatis reclaiming his usual leadoff spot and Trent Grisham moving down. Tatis is one of MLB’s best power leadoff hitters, joining the likes of Mookie Betts, Julio Rodriguez, and Ronald Acuña Jr.
A look at the Padres’ order on a typical night:
| Spot | Player | Pos. |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Fernando Tatis Jr. | RF |
| 2. | Juan Soto | LF |
| 3. | Manny Machado | 3B |
| 4. | Xander Bogaerts | SS |
| 5. | Nelson Cruz | DH |
| 6. | Jake Cronenworth | 1B |
| 7. | Ha-Seong Kim | 2B |
| 8. | Trent Grisham | CF |
| 9. | Austin Nola | C |
Fernando Tatis Jr.’s second surgery
While he was suspended, Tatis underwent a second surgery to repair the labrum in his left shoulder.
According to MLB.com, he suffered at least four shoulder injuries in 2021, but he refused surgery in October despite the team’s insistence.
The suspension gave Tatis time to undergo surgery and recover.
“Coming back to how I felt, I wasn’t the best version of me out there,” Tatis said last year, according to MLB.com. “Some games, it got in the way. I was thinking and not diving in with my head down, not doing my stereotypical activities. I feel like when I come back and start everything, “I need to be 100 percent so I can do what I know how to do.”
Fernando Tatis Jr. Triple-A statistics
Whatever Tatis did in his time away from the game, it appears to be working.
His tenure in Triple-A was supernatural. He hit .515/.590/1.212 and had seven home runs among his 17 hits. At one point his OPS was approaching 2,000; It ended at 1.802. He hit three home runs in a game against Albuquerque.
find joy in training
In a profession that is based entirely on routine and routine, the best players will always be looking for ways to improve. Tatis joined teammate Joe Musgrove in underwater training last season. Training involves breathing, using weights underwater, and walking on the pool floor. This was something that Musgrove had been doing for some time and after completing the training, Tatis has found it useful to his game on the field.
“It’s helped me regulate my breathing and get [better] control,” Tatis said. “With being underwater, [it’s finding] how to create that calmness, how can I slow my pulse down and I can bring that into the game. When it starts to get faster – you’re pretending or you’re moving around the bass – you still have to be in control and you achieve that by the breathing and the silence that you create.
Being from the Dominican Republic, Tatis says he was born in water and it didn’t take him long to adjust. He says this is something he will continue in the future.
Ever since his career began, he has always been conscious and knowledgeable about what is required to take care of his body at a professional level – eating the right food, ensuring he gets proper rest, and establishing a good routine at the gym. to do. With a good foundation in place, their focus is now on creating happiness while finding new ways to maximize their talents.
