Padres News: Fernando Tatis Jr's Recent Dominance in Right Field Has Haters Silent
Time and time again, Fernando Tatis Jr. has been able to block out all the noise surrounding him as he looks to do the one thing he promised entering the 2023 season... take care of whatever the San Diego Padres ask of him.
It was clear that the whole plan for him to switch from shortstop to the outfield wasn't exactly the number one choice on his wishlist as he joined the Friars in Peoria. However, the franchise stood by him through thick and thin the past two years and he knew that he needed to do the same. MLB Twitter initially had a field day with some of Tatis' mistakes in those early Spring Training games but like I said, he focused on what he could control.
And then you have a night like Sunday where the Padres were able to take home a huge victory over the best squad in the MLB right now. San Diego came out with a 5-4 win over the Tampa Bay Rays and El Niño put the saving cherry on top with a 99.5 MPH flamethrower to Austin Nola at home plate at the top of the eighth inning to shut down any hopes of the Rays tying the match.
Tatis Knows The Power He Holds
Christian Bethancourt connected on a grounder that rolled perfectly to Tatis in the right field and he snatched it up, took a few steps and immediately let his arm do the rest of the work. Vidal Brujan ran for his life but came up short. It was Nando's second fastest throw of the season and the third fastest thrown by any Padres player since 2015.
To me, this was undoubtedly his Kodak moment in his new position. All month long we have seen Tatis playing some of his best baseball since his return and a lot of that has been on defense. We continue to see him make plays like these where other guys would not come close to getting the ball to their catcher
And Tatis, who usually celebrates with a dance or a big smile at least, stayed crouched down for a couple of seconds as he caught his breath. It looked like he was calmly soaking in the moment as he realized the play that he just made and thinking about the many more that will come.
Silencing All The Critics
Little by little, the same haters that were questioning Tatis' ability to smoothly translate to the outfield have been silenced. Some opposing fans may watch that clip and say that one play does not define who he is in right field but stats are showing that he is placing among the best in the MLB right now.
Let's take a look at Outs Above Average for all OF's in 2023, which is is the cumulative total of outs a player has saved. Tatis currently leads all players in his position this season with seven... Will Brennan is number two with a total of three.
Tatis is also number three in the entire MLB when it comes to defensive runs saved as he only trails his Friars teammate Ha-Seong Kim and Daulton Varsho.
So yes, everybody in the MLB can have their opinion and if they choose to dislike Nando because of previous decisions, that is their own right. But when it comes to talent, he is in a very exclusive tier. Men lie, women lie, but stats and game-winning plays do not!
