Fernando Tatis Jr. Is Baseball's Greatest Showman Once Again

Tatis is back to being a must-watch player after his star-level production and confidence were nowhere to be found earlier this season.

Tatis’s rampant last few weeks have coincided with the Padres roaring back into playoff contention. | Phebe Grosser/Getty Images

Fernando Tatis Jr. is back. All the way back.

On Tuesday night against the Mets, Tatis Jr. had the kind of game that recalled the days when he was wrecking MLB in 2021. It wasn’t just that he hit two home runs, including a mammoth 452-foot shot to open the game. Nor was it the fact that he went over the wall to rob Francisco Lindor of a grand slam. It was how he did it.

After making a mind-bogglingly athletic play, Tatis stood flat-footed and stone-faced on the warning track, staring toward the infield. He held the Citi Field crowd in the palm of his glove for a few seconds, heightening the drama before nonchalantly flipping the ball into his waiting right hand, finally revealing that he’d made what looked like an impossible catch. The moment sent the Padres dugout into a raucous celebration while Mets fans in the crowd uttered a collective groan. It was the coolest we’ve seen an MLB player look in years.

The robbery, the reveal, the stare.

How can you not be entertained by Fernando Tatis Jr. 😮‍💨 https://t.co/WiRJcQ0Pua pic.twitter.com/1u90XM57sj

— MLB (@MLB) August 19, 2026

Baseball’s greatest showman has returned.  

The talent has always been there for Tatis, but the way he’s been playing the last few months marks a return to the exciting youngster we were once collectively in awe of. He was the kind of rare, five-tool talent scouts drool over and fans go nuts for. But it wasn’t just his talent, it was the way he played the game. He was exciting, playing the game with a sense of abandon that was equal parts thrilling and terrifying for Padres fans. He carried himself with supreme confidence and unmatched swagger. Shortly after breaking into the bigs, Tatis became your cool friend’s favorite player.

Then it was all derailed. He began dealing with persistent shoulder issues in 2021, and that was followed by a wrist injury that required multiple surgeries and a suspension for taking the banned substance Clostebol, sending his career sideways. He missed all of the ’22 season, and finally had surgery to repair the left shoulder subluxation and labrum tear that dogged him for most of ’21. 

Since returning as an outfielder the following spring, Tatis has shown flashes of his former self while remaining a more contained version of that player. There was a time when he looked poised to be a perennial MVP contender. In fact, if not for a late-season slump in 2020, he may have won one. He followed that up by leading the NL with 42 home runs in ’21 despite playing just 130 games, while posting a career-best .975 OPS. He has since been a really good big leaguer but hasn’t consistently shown the ability to take over games as he did before his multiple surgeries. 

Tatis missed two months in 2024 due to a stress reaction in his right femur. Despite that, he eventually became perhaps baseball’s best outfielder, won two National League Platinum Gloves (’23, ’25) and produced a 5.9 WAR season last year. But something was missing. The supreme confidence from those early years was gone, as was the one-handed finish on his swing, something he likely scrapped to protect his shoulder. Perhaps most glaringly, he didn’t look like he was having fun the way he always did early in his career. The production returned before the personality did. 

Fernando Tatis Jr. throws out a runner at the plate! pic.twitter.com/EYCf7g352B

— Talkin' Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) August 19, 2026

While he continued to struggle with consistency at the plate, Tatis endlessly tinkered with his swing. Early in 2026, he continued to hammer the ball as hard as ever, but wasn’t pulling it and was still pounding the ball into ground. Tatis’s average launch angle over the season’s first two months was four degrees, well below the MLB average of 12.5. He didn’t hit his first home run until May 30 against the Nationals, when his slugging percentage sat at .307. At the end of May, Tatis carried a wRC+ of 90, had pulled just 31.3% of his batted balls and had a fly ball rate of only 25.5%.

Then his season flipped on its head. 

In 68 games since the start of June, Tatis is slashing .290/.363/.522, with 14 home runs, 42 RBIs, 14 stolen bases, an xwOBA of .387 and wRC+ of 143. He ranks fourth in the NL in fWAR (2.7) since then. The underlying numbers show a hitter who has completely changed the way he’s impacting the baseball. Tatis has pulled the ball 44.6% of the time, his fly ball rate has jumped to 35.6%, and his launch angle has doubled to eight degrees. He’s pulling it more and getting it off the ground. It’s not surprising he’s doing more damage.

2 home runs hit, 1 grand slam robbed

Fernando Tatis Jr. did it all for the Padres 😤

(MLB x @Gatorade) pic.twitter.com/QcCp2Ub9ED

— MLB (@MLB) August 19, 2026

There may be a simple explanation for at least some of that transformation: Tatis has dramatically changed his batting stance. Through the end of May, he averaged an open stance of 12 degrees. Since the start of June, that number has tripled to 36 degrees. He went from a relatively square stance to a much more open one and his numbers have jumped.

If we zero in on the last few weeks, he has been even better. 

Since the All-Star break, Tatis leads the NL in OPS (1.015), wRC+ (173) and xwOBA (.451), is second in home runs (10), third in fWAR (1.6) and has more walks (19) than strikeouts (16). As his stats have risen, so has his confidence. 

At 27, Tatis is once again displaying the game-breaking ability that made him baseball’s most electric young star. The swagger is back. The swing is back. The tape-measure home runs, bat flips and impossible catches are back. Most importantly, Tatis looks like he’s enjoying himself again. 

Baseball is better when he’s having fun playing it. 

Welcome back, Fernando Tatis Jr. We missed you. 

---