Fernando Tatís Jr.

Early life

Tatís was born in San Pedro de Macorís, Dominican Republic. His father, Fernando Sr., was already playing in his third year of Major League Baseball (MLB) when Tatís was born, playing for the St. Louis Cardinals at the time. Fernando Jr. held an interest in baseball from a young age, and was athletic and spent a lot of time in big league clubhouses. He often practiced with Robinson Canó, who is also from San Pedro de Macorís.

Professional career

Minor leagues

The Chicago White Sox signed Tatís as an international free agent from the Dominican Prospect League in 2015. On June 4, 2016, before he had played a professional game, the White Sox traded Tatís, then 17 years old, and Erik Johnson to the Padres for James Shields. Tatís spent 2016 with the Arizona League Padres of the Rookie-level Arizona League and the Tri-City Dust Devils of the Class A-Short Season Northwest League, batting a combined .273 with four home runs and 25 runs batted in (RBIs) in 55 games; on defense, he made 15 errors and had a .904 fielding percentage.

In 2017, Tatís played 117 games for the Fort Wayne TinCaps of the Class A Midwest League and 14 games for the San Antonio Missions of the Class AA Texas League, posting a combined .278 batting average with 22 home runs, 75 RBIs, and 32 stolen bases as he was caught 15 times, and on defense, he made 30 errors and had a .936 fielding percentage. In 2017–18, he played 17 games at shortstop for the Estrellas de Oriente of the Dominican Winter League, batting .246 with one home run and three RBIs.

Tatís entered 2018 as one of the top prospects in the minor leagues. He returned to play shortstop for San Antonio, and in 88 games he batted .286 with 16 home runs, 43 RBIs, and 16 stolen bases. On July 23, 2018, Tatís underwent season-ending surgery for a broken left thumb and ligament damage suffered during a head-first slide. He returned to play for the Estrellas for the 2018–19 winter season.

San Diego Padres (2019–present)

At the beginning of 2019, Tatís was ranked as one of the top three prospects in baseball by MLB Pipeline, ESPN, Baseball America, and Baseball Prospectus. On March 26, 2019, the Padres announced that Tatís made their Opening Day roster. In his major league debut, he recorded two hits against the San Francisco Giants. On April 1, 2019, Tatís hit his first major league home run.

In August, Tatís injured his back, which ended his 2019 season. He finished the season with a slash line of .317/.379/.590 along with 22 home runs, 61 runs, and 106 hits over 84 games. He came in third place in balloting for the National League Rookie of the Year Award, behind Pete Alonso and Michael Soroka.

In the 2020 season, Tatís was part of a four-game streak in August in which the San Diego Padres hit four grand slams, and, notably, was at each base position over the four. There was a controversy involving Tatís when he swung at a 3–0 pitch in the eighth inning, hitting an opposite-field grand slam against the Texas Rangers. This caused some discussion at the time regarding breaking an "unwritten rule of baseball" since the Padres were already up by seven runs.

In 2020, Tatís led the NL in power-speed number (13.4) and batted .277/.366/.571 (10th in the league) with 50 runs (2nd), 17 home runs (2nd), 42 RBIs (4th), and 11 stolen bases (4th) in 224 at-bats. Of all major league hitters, he had the highest average exit velocity (95.9 MPH), percentage of hard-hit balls (62.2), and percentage of barrels/plate appearance (12.5%).

In Game 2 of the 2020 Wild Card Series against the St. Louis Cardinals, Tatís was able to help bring the Padres back into winning position by hitting two home runs that made it possible for the Padres to win the series and head to the next round against the Dodgers, which they lost in three straight games.

Tatís finished in fourth place for the National League MVP Award in 2020, behind Freddie Freeman, Mookie Betts, and his teammate Manny Machado.

Before the 2021 season, Tatís signed a 14-year, $340 million contract extension with the Padres, at the time the third-richest in MLB history, behind deals signed by Mike Trout and Mookie Betts, and the richest signed by a player not yet eligible for salary arbitration. Part of Tatís's future earnings will be given to Big League Advance as part of an agreement Tatís made while in the minor leagues in order to receive early money that he used to "afford a personal trainer, higher quality food, and better housing".

Player profile

Tatís, a 6 ft 3 in, 217 lb (1.90 m, 98 kg) outfielder and shortstop, has been described as a five-tool player by MLB.com due to his skills in hitting, hitting for power, fielding, throwing, and running. In his 2021 season, Tatís hit 42 home runs, the most in the National League that year. He is only the fifth Padres player to hit 40+ home runs in a single season. His .282 batting average in 2021 was the highest among leaderboard-qualified Padres batters. Tatís posted an average sprint speed of 29.3 feet per second through his first three seasons and placed in the 98th percentile of all MLB baserunners in 2020.

In 2019, Tatís committed 18 errors, the fifth-most in MLB that season. Although he committed only three errors in the shortened 2020 season and raised his fielding percentage 40 points to .984, he committed 21 errors in 2021, the third-most in the league that year. Critics have alleged that Tatís's highlight-reel defensive plays distract from his inconsistency on easy plays. Although he was described as a subpar defender at shortstop, he has been touted for his defense since he moved to right field in 2023.

Tatís has been credited as one of the most exciting star players in baseball. ESPN ranked him as the most entertaining MLB player in 2020.

Personal life

Tatís's father played third base in the major leagues from 1997 to 2010. His mother is named Maria. His younger brother, Elijah, was an infielder in the Chicago White Sox organization; he signed in 2019. Tatís is the cover athlete of MLB The Show 21, and at age 22, the youngest player to be featured as the cover star.