Padres' Craig Stammen Makes Feeling Clear on Fernando Tatis Jr's Struggles

Despite ongoing struggles at the plate from Fernando Tatis Jr., the San Diego Padres have still found ways to win games. Others on the team have stepped up during Tatis' long home run drought, but the issues with the superstar are starting to become a serious concern.

Tatis has now played in 33 games for the Padres this season, and he has yet to hit a home run. It's by far the longest home run drought of his career, now at 143 plate appearances to open the season.

This long drought has baffled Tatis, but he has been doing everything he can to break out of it. And the Padres' organization has stood by the star player, with manager Craig Stammen coming out in support of him.

“I don’t think there is any issue with Tatis," Stammen said. "He’s a leader for our team. He makes plays all over the place even when he’s not hitting the ball exactly how he wants to. This game is not easy. Pitchers are all trying to get you to hit it on the ground.

"And he’s still batting .270, which is pretty impressive when you are not hot."

Overall, Tatis is hitting .252 with 13 runs batted in and 14 walks drawn, while putting up an OPS of .625 for the year. It has been a season to forget for the veteran thus far, but luckily for Tatis, it's only May.

Tatis' power numbers have been a little inconsistent over the last few years, but he has never seen a drought like this before. Last summer, the slugger had a similar homer-less streak of 132, but this year's problems are more worrisome.

Despite Tatis' lack of home runs, he's hitting the ball hard, which is a big reason for the confusion regarding his drought. Tatis is in the 99th percentile of MLB in terms of hard-hit percentage, and he's in the 92nd percentile in terms of average exit velocity.

And yet, he has nothing to show for it.

But even with Tatis' struggles, the Padres are finding ways to win games, which should bode well for their chances this season. Tatis is arguably the best player on the Padres roster, and normally, when the star player is struggling, so is the team.

However, the Padres are currently toward the top of the National League West division, sitting just 1.5 games back of the Los Angeles Dodgers. The season has been impressive for San Diego despite the power struggles of Tatis and other injuries to key pitchers in the starting rotation.

For now, Tatis just needs to keep working and hope he breaks out of this slump soon. But if this team is going to make real noise in the NL this season, the Padres are going to need their star to pick it up at the plate.

On Tuesday, Stammen decided to drop Tatis to the No. 5 spot in the lineup. It's the lowest he's hit since his rookie year in 2019.

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