Fernando Tatis Jr. arrives back at American Family Field as a different kind of problem for the Padres’ opponents.
When San Diego left Milwaukee after a three-game sweep in mid-May, Tatis was still waiting for his first home run of the season. He went 0-for-5 in the series finale, and his OPS had fallen to .607. The Padres were searching for traction, and their star right fielder was searching for his swing.
Now the Padres are back for Saturday night’s National League Division Series opener against the Brewers, with first pitch set for 8:30 p.m. ET. Tatis has turned a frustrating spring into one of the sport’s strongest second halves, then carried that surge directly into October.
A turnaround that changed San Diego’s lineup
Tatis needed 239 plate appearances to clear the fence for the first time this year, finally homering May 30 in Washington. There was no quick fix. He spent long hours in the cage, adjusted his setup and mechanics, and worked through the balance between unlocking pull-side power and remaining prepared for pitches breaking away from him.
By the All-Star break, the signs were moving in the right direction. After it, Tatis took off. He posted a .307/.385/.610 slash line in the second half and hit 20 of his 25 homers after the break.
The power was only part of the package. Tatis stole a career-best 38 bases, continued to give San Diego premium work in right field and added second base to his defensive options. From the day after that May visit to Milwaukee, he ranked second in baseball in fWAR, behind only Cubs center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong.
“He goes, we go,” Padres shortstop Xander Bogaerts said during Friday’s workout at American Family Field.
That connection was clear in the Wild Card Series against Chicago. Tatis attacked Cubs starter Matthew Boyd’s opening pitch, drove a changeup to center field for a home run and set the tone for San Diego’s two-game sweep.
He also made key plays in right, then supplied one of the Padres’ defining October moments on the bases. After a stolen-base throw skipped into shallow left-center, Tatis raced from first all the way home. He slid in headfirst, rose from his crouch and roared as Petco Park came apart around him.
Finding the whole player again
Padres manager Craig Stammen said Tatis’ postseason showing has been an extension of the player who emerged during the back half of the regular season.
“He had to look inward and learn who he is as a player, who he wanted to become, and shut out the outside noise,” Stammen said. “He did that very well.”
Stammen said Tatis’ progress came when the outfielder embraced the job of becoming a complete player instead of defining himself only as a hitter or a home-run threat. In that approach, Stammen saw the confidence Tatis carried as a child — the sense that he could control every part of the game.
Tatis has said the difficult months were necessary. “It helped me understand myself more,” he said. “It gave me greater trust in myself, in the ability I have, and let me build from there.”
The mechanical work was never simply about trying to yank the ball in the air. Tatis and the Padres understood that an overly pull-conscious approach could leave him exposed to breaking balls on the outer half. Their work centered on giving him a swing that could produce damage without forcing him to chase power at every turn.
“There was a lot of work,” Tatis said. “But this is a game of adjustments every day. It comes down to adapting day after day, staying consistent and finding a way to help the team win.”
Asked in August what it took to restore the version of Tatis now driving San Diego’s October push, he gave the simplest answer possible: “Three months of struggling.”
Those months are part of the story now, but they are no longer the story. The Padres open the NLDS with Tatis swinging with authority, running with conviction and playing the kind of all-around baseball that can tilt a series in a hurry.
