If you only catch the highlight shows, you might think Fernando Tatis Jr. is “down” whenever he isn’t launching baseballs into the Western Metal Supply Co. facade. Padres fans know better. Night after night, Tatis dictates games in all the little places most box scores can’t reach — cutting off would-be doubles with a burst of speed, turning singles into outs with a one-hop laser to third, and stealing back extra-base hits with those perfectly timed climbs over the right-field wall. The bat is what made him a star. The glove, and the heartbeat are what make him indispensable.
MLB writers echo what Padres fans always believed about Fernando Tatis Jr.
