Padres News: Fernando Tatis Jr. Avoids Question About Position Change
Padres superstar Fernando Tatis Jr. has played 273 games in his big-league career, and 242 of them have come at shortstop. But while Tatis was out all of last year with injuries and suspension, Ha-Seong Kim took over as San Diego's everyday shortstop. Then, this offseason, the Padres went out and signed Xander Bogaerts, one of the best-hitting shortstops in baseball, to an 11-year contract.
All of which leads to the undeniable fact that Tatis is no longer the Padres' shortstop, even though he's still a huge part of the team's plans going forward. The question is, where will be play on defense?
Tatis was asked that question this weekend at FanFest, and he laughed and gave a good-natured non-answer.
"Uhhh, I gotta talk to my manager. But I'm open. I feel like this is a great team that we have, this is a great roster that the front office has built together, and I feel like everybody's on the same page, and that page is winning. So whatever it takes, we're gonna do it."
Tatis will miss the first few weeks of the season as he completes his 80-game suspension for testing positive for Clostebol last August. He was on the injured list at the time, recovering from a wrist injury he suffered in a dirt bike accident last offseason. After the suspension, Tatis ultimately decided to have surgery to repair the torn labrum in his left shoulder.
It will be an uphill battle for Tatis this year, learning a new position while coming back from two major surgeries after missing an entire season. But it helps to be immensely talented, which he undeniably is. The 24-year-old star has a carer 160 OPS+ and led the league with 42 home runs in 2021.
So we don't know for sure where Tatis will be playing in 2023, but he seems ready for the challenge.
