Padres' Fernando Tatis Jr. Dubbed More Popular Than Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani in One Country

The San Diego Padres play closer to the Mexican border than any other U.S. team. They help their own international marketing efforts by playing in Mexico regularly, most recently on April 25-26 against the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Although the Padres have no Mexico natives on their 40-man roster, that hasn't proved an obstacle to popularity for their star players.

One Padre in particular seems to have captured the country's hearts.

“Fernando [Tatis Jr.] here in Mexico is a rock star,” Santiago Harp, who runs the Mexico City Diablos Rojos, told the San Diego Union-Tribune. “He’s the biggest star of any team. I don’t think [Shohei] Ohtani would have the same impact as Tatis here in Mexico City.”

The Diablos Rojos are owned by Harp's father, Alfredo Harp Helú, who owns the largest minority share of the Padres outside the Seidler family. Having a multi-country promotional engine can only help Tatis' star power. This season, it might even be necessary.

Tatis has a .609 OPS through his first 30 games of the season. He is still looking for his first home run of the season, after hitting 25 in 2025.

Recent performance aside, Tatis' star power is helped by his longevity. He debuted with the Padres in 2019 and is already fourth in franchise history in Wins Above Replacement before his 28th birthday.

Tatis is a top-10 player in franchise history in career home runs (152) and stolen bases (131). His 134 OPS+ is equal to Dave Winfield, the franchise's first star in the 1970s.

Besides the numbers, Tatis is simply fun to watch. Twice a Silver Slugger Award winner as a shortstop, he moved to right field in 2023 and has won two Gold Glove Awards there since.

Tatis might not be the best player in MLB, but he's been one of the best players on the Padres for most of the last seven years — a super-prospect who lived up to the hype.

Other teams might try to lay claim to Mexico. Arizona, for its part, sent Gov. Katie Hobbs to Mexico City with the Diamondbacks for the two-game series.

But the Padres are, for all intents and purposes, Mexico's team. There have been eight regular season series or one-off MLB games in Mexico. The Padres have featured in five of them.

In all but one of the 12 games the Padres have played in Mexico, they were designated as the home team. Being the best player on the most popular team in a country comes with its perks.

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