On May 20 in Atlanta, in the night game of a doubleheader, Fernando Tatis, Jr. ran 84 feet across the Atlanta outfield grass and crashed into the Truist Park fence to take a hit off his good friend. Ronald Acuña, Jr. The impact knocked him to the ground, leaving significant scratches.
“That's the love of the game more than anything else,” Tatis told reporters about the catch afterward. “I knew it was going to hurt.”
Tatis, 25, has always played loudly and without inhibitions. Almost reckless. He is known for jumping and diving catches, dancing in the outfield, jumping around the bases and stealing home plate. In 2021, Tatis became the youngest player to appear on the cover of “MLB the Show.” His jersey sales were among the top three in the league. Young fans tried to emulate his swing and his swagger, copying his epic swings with the bat and salivating over his shoes.
Tatis' constantly changing tacos this season they're flashy and fun, but the fact that he's a star without a shoe endorsement deal is also a reminder of what else he's known for now. Two years ago, just months after signing a record-setting 14-year, $340 million contract extension for a player who had yet to reach salary arbitration, the league found the steroid Clostebol in his system. Tatis, who was in rehab during the failed drug test, was suspended 80 games. He initially claimed that the failed drug test was due to treatment for ringworm, but later apologized for his actions and took responsibility.
Once seen as the face of baseball's future, Tatis was immediately dropped by Adidas. Gatorade and Dairy Queen ads featuring him were pulled, and he acquired a new, unflattering label: steroid user.
Tatis, who was also coming off multiple surgeries, won a Platinum Gold Glove last season, his first in the outfield. But he struggled at the plate, hitting .257/.322/.449 with an OPS+ of 112. Along the way, Tatis was booed. Nationally, baseball found other young stars to promote in the 564 days Tatis spent between major league games.
This season, Tatis, son of former major leaguer Fernando Tatis, still isn't hitting like he used to: .244/.328/.412 as of Wednesday. But his enthusiasm for the game has returned and he feels more like himself.
“I actually love to blend in,” Tatis, Jr. said in front of his locker this spring. Then, realizing how surprising that sounds, he tilts his head back and laughs. “But we cannot deny ourselves either.”
Tatis Jr. (homer against the Cubs in April) plays with style, but off the field he speaks so softly that his teammates often struggle to hear him. (Matt Thomas/San Diego Padres via Getty Images)
On the field, Tatis is responsible for some of the most emphatic bat flips in the game, often accompanied by yelling, jumping or chest-thumping. Other than that, you have to force yourself to listen to it. Behind the animated plays, Tatis has a soft voice — “sweet,” as Padres first-year manager Mike Shildt puts it.
“I have always been quieter than my brothers,” said Tatis, who is from San Pedro de Macorís, Dominican Republic. “I like to listen and laugh.”
Tatis's first steps in the Major Leagues came as a child, following his father around the Montreal clubhouse, carrying a small bat and swinging around the field. In New York with the Mets, Sr. would take Jr. to the batting cages and encourage him to talk to the other major leaguers, players like José Reyes, Carlos Delgado and Ángel Pagán. Tatis Sr. finished his career by playing a few seasons of winter ball, and by then Tatis Jr., already showing signs of being a star, was old enough to pay close attention and hone his skills.
In 2015, at age 16, he signed with the White Sox. They later traded him to the Padres, and by 2019, Manny Machado and then-Padres veteran Eric Hosmer were pressuring general manager AJ Preller to get Tatis out of the minors, saying that if the Padres were serious about winning , Tatis needed to be on the team. Preller listened and Tatis' career took off quickly.
Tatis finished third in NL Rookie of the Year voting that year despite appearing in only 84 games after a back injury ended his season. The following season, he finished fourth in the NL MVP race and was third in 2022. He was a two-time Silver Slugger, an All-Star in 2021, on the cover of “MLB The Show” and had his own color combination. of Adidas Ultra Boost running shoes.
“It was a lot,” Tatis said, recalling his early years in the league. “It was much more than baseball. “I don't want to say I was wrong, but sometimes I got a little distracted.”
Then everything fell apart. When news became public that Tatis had tested positive for a performance-enhancing drug, he was in Double-A San Antonio on rehab assignment for a broken wrist in a motorcycle accident suffered in the Dominican Republic during the offseason. . The injury occurred during baseball's lockout, when teams were prohibited from speaking to players. Tatis arrived at spring training with his wrist still sore, and a subsequent MRI confirmed the fracture. He was about to return when the suspension was lifted.
The reaction to the suspension was quick and visceral. Tatis' bobblehead night was canceled and his presence was almost immediately erased from the team's videos on the JumboTron. A giant mural of Tatis outside Petco Park was torn down. The guy baseball couldn't get enough of was nowhere to be found.
“It is not an easy situation from a reputation point of view. People are going to make judgments,” Preller said. “He's had to deal with that the last few years.”
When Tatis reported to spring training last year, he was still suspended but was able to work out with the team. He went to work with Padres outfield coach David Macias, who helped Tatis transition from shortstop to right field, a move precipitated by the hope that less action and fewer collisions would keep Tatis, who has had multiple shoulder dislocations and several other injuries. in his short career, healthier.
When he returned on April 20, 2023, Tatis, now in right field, had a front-row seat to fan hostility. His teammate Nelson Cruz, who was suspended 50 games in 2013 for his involvement in the Biogenesis scandal, became a voice of support, as did Machado. Padres pitcher Joe Musgrove, one of the few veterans with whom Tatis first addressed his suspension, said his teammates were quick to move on. But, he told Tatis, he eventually needed to forgive himself.
“You can't let it go through your head, 'I'm known as this cheater and this guy who took steroids and I have to act a certain way,'” Musgrove said. “C'est fini. Now move on so you can be the player you were before using steroids. He was incredible before any of that happened. I still believe he will be a great player afterwards.”
In 141 games in 2023, Tatis was a great defender, second among outfielders in Defensive Runs Saved (+27) and Ultimate Zone Rating (+12.3), but he was a more common hitter.
This past offseason, Tatis returned to the Dominican Republic and, for the first time since becoming a major league player, played winter ball, returning to his old team, the Estrellas Orientales in Lidom. His coach of him? His father. Although he only played in a few winter games, Tatis put on an offensive show reminiscent of his best days.
“I needed that. I needed to play again,” Tatis said.
Said Machado: “That's given him some resentment heading into (this season), which I don't think is a bad thing.”
Tatis entered spring training more vocal with his teammates and in meetings, more confident, free of the uncertainty of how his presence would be perceived.
“I told him, 'We're going to win if you're more frank,'” Machado said. “'We need you, people admire you. If you use your voice, you will guide us in the right direction.” And he's been doing it since the offseason. He has definitely matured in a big way.”
When asked what he's learned in the past two years, Tatis said, “things are never as bad as they seem.”
The Padres are asking Tatis to cover more ground in his second season as an outfielder, a way to better utilize his athleticism and also help rookie center fielder Jackson Merrill. At first, Tatis has experimented with playing closer to center field and deeper.
“He's going to be able to change the game, stealing home runs and making really athletic plays where he jumps over the wall or jumps off the wall in an acrobatic way,” Macias said. “There just aren't many players like him in the game.”
He and his teammates believe Tatis' offense will eventually return to its peak.
“The field is like his playground,” said Macias, who was impressed that Tatis took live batting practice reps before every game last year, an unusual habit in the big leagues. “He's always trying to create something and he's never happy. He wants to dominate everything and that is why you will continue to see a better Tati.”
If 2023 was the Redemption Tour, 2024 looks like it could be baseball again for Tatis. Even after his suspension, Tatis remains one of the most marketable players in baseball. He is charismatic, Latino in a sport where almost half of his players are born outside the United States, he speaks perfect English and plays with a showman's style. He has already added new partnerships this year, appearing in a Corona opening day ad and landing a deal with Champs, with a handful of other potential companies in discussion.
Despite all the ups and downs Tatis' career has seen, he is still only 25 years old.
“How old are you?” Musgrove said.
Cronenworth, 30, laughed when Tatis' age was mentioned and then said, “I feel like he should be closer to my age.”
Tatis says he wants to be the face of baseball again, or at least be in that conversation, but only because it would mean he's playing at an All-Star level. And along the way, he believes fans will come to see that there's more to him beneath the surface.
“There's still a lot of things people don't know about me,” he said this spring, before grabbing his glove and taking the field. “It will come out in time.”
(Top image: John Bradford / The Athletic; Photos: Rob Tringali/Getty Images)
