Padres' Fernando Tatis 'Out of Whack', According to MLB Insider

The San Diego Padres have continued to see concerning results from Fernando Tatis Jr. at the plate.

Tatis still has not hit a home run this season, and his approach to hitting has seemed very off this year.

The Padres have been trying different methods to get him going, including moving him all around the lineup. But to this point, nothing has worked well, and the home run drought has continued much longer than anyone could have imagined.

Now nearly 50 games into the 2026 season, the situation is a major concern, and just about everyone is trying to figure out what's going wrong for Tatis.

According to MLB insider Alden Gonzalez of ESPN, the superstar is just "out of whack" right now.

"He just seems out of whack. He felt so jumpy to me in game one [against the Dodgers], very clearly just trying to pull the ball," Gonzalez said on Friar Territory. "In game two, his timing was just off."

"He is hitting the ball incredibly hard," Gonzalez added. " ... He's gotta find it because he's just too talented. But he is one who just mechanically, you can tell, there is something off there."

"He just seems out of whack."@Alden_Gonzalez says you can tell there's something off with Fernando Tatis Jr.'s mechanics at the plate. pic.twitter.com/RbhK9rWky0
— Friar Territory (@FriarTerritory) May 20, 2026

Tatis is in the midst of a four-game hitting streak, but continues to struggle to lift the ball.

On Wednesday, he came up to bat with the bases loaded and one out in the fifth inning against Shohei Ohtani, who was struggling to find the strike zone.

He proceeded to ground into an inning-ending double play on the first pitch he saw, and the Padres didn't have a better chance to score after that in the eventual shutout loss.

Oh my goodness.

The Padres had the bases loaded and one out.

Shohei Ohtani got Fernando Tatis Jr. to ground into an inning-ending double play.

Ohtani is through five shutout innings. His season ERA is down to 0.73. Dodgers lead 3-0.pic.twitter.com/ayVUNT0FbS
— Noah Camras (@noahcamras) May 21, 2026

On the year, Tatis has played in 48 games, hitting .239 with 15 runs batted in and 12 stolen bases, while posting an OPS of .590. This is easily the worst season of his career so far, but his numbers have been trending downward over the last few years.

His struggles at the plate have hurt the Padres offense, which has been incredibly inconsistent throughout the year.

Yet somehow, San Diego has found ways to win ball games in spite of the problems that Tatis has seen at the plate this season. But for the Padres to actually have a chance to contend for a World Series title in 2026, Tatis is going to need to get his bat going in some capacity.

San Diego will continue to work with the star to figure out how to break him out of this long slump, but it will be up to Tatis to make it work. However, he is far too talented a player for this to go on much longer, and eventually, he will likely get back to being the electric star that the league has seen.

If not, the Padres could be in trouble, with the 27-year-old still owed around $270 million over the next nine years.

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