Padres News: Fernando Tatis Jr. Highlights Practice As Reason He Saw Plate Success Saturday

The returning star has never doubted his ability

At just 24-years-old, Fernando Tatis Jr. has gone through quite the whirlwind as the San Diego's Padres brightest young star over these past two years. He unfortunately was not able to suit up at all last season due to a mix of surgeries, a motorcycle accident, and the use of PED's in his recovery. The Friars themselves went through many changes themselves in that time as they defied all odds and made it to the NLCS, traded for Juan Soto, and now have secured Manny Machado in the city for his career.

Somehow, through all of this, many true Padres fans still dusted off their Tatis jerseys and viewed his return as the best thing to look forward to this Spring Training. By no means was it easy as El Niño struggled significantly at the plate in his first six games.

However, numbers do not lie and his previous ones in his career show that this slump was not likely to continue. Finally, Tatis prevailed and got his first few hits in the Cactus League against the Chicago White Sox on Saturday.

The young star spoke to Kevin Acee of the San Diego-Union Tribune and simply regarded his improved play a product of his training.

Let’s all calm down. Tatis Jr with his first hit of the Spring. #Padres https://t.co/mUau8AutU0

— Borna Nazari (@thehogwatch) March 11, 2023

“I just went back to hitting a little bit more outside,” said Tatis. “That’s what I do before I come to spring training. I kind of missed it this year because I wasn’t back home with my squad. I just go out there and hit for one hour, an hour-and-a-half. … I said, ‘I want to get back to this.’ I (felt) like my shoulder and my wrist were in a good spot to build up my swings, and it’s clicking so far.

The best news that came from all of this is that Tatis does not feel any discomfort from the two areas (shoulder and wrist) that he's had surgeries on. El Niño is looking to have a healthy season and take the field as much as possible this year in order to make up for lost time.