Padres Hitting Coach Addresses Growing Concern Around Fernando Tatis Jr.

The extended home run drought has somehow continued for San Diego Padres star Fernando Tatis Jr., with the calendar now getting close to June.

The veteran has tried everything he can to break out of the power slump, but to this point, nothing has worked.

His struggles this season have seemingly come out of nowhere, and have been one of the strangest storylines of the 2026 season.

Tatis is normally one of the more electric players in all of baseball, but something just doesn't look right at the plate. For the season, the veteran has hit .240 with 15 runs batted in and 12 stolen bases, while posting an OPS of .595.

Padres hitting coach Steven Souza Jr. recently reflected on the ongoing concerns around Tatis, but didn't want to make them a big deal. Souza believes that when all is said and done, nobody is going to care about these early-season issues.

"He’s just kind of getting out of whack mechanically at times, and trying to find it," Souza said to San Diego Union-Tribune. "Anybody that sees all the pressure behind him, it’s human nature to want to add and make things happen. He’s an electric player that loves to do those things and help the team win. I think at the end of the year we’ll look at it and it’ll be just fine."

The Padres have still been able to stay afloat in the standings, even with the problems that Tatis has seen. But for San Diego to reach the goal of actually competing for a World Series, they are going to need the star's bat to get going.

While his issues have continued, Tatis has made an impact in other areas on the field, including with his defense and on the base paths. Manager Craig Stammen has praised Tatis for his work amid the issues, but something will need to change eventually at the plate.

"He's working every day to try and figure that out; it's not like he doesn't know that or we are ignorant to it," Stammen said. "The hitting coaches are trying to rack their brains, and so is Fernando. He is trying to do it physically, also. Credit to him in the meantime, he's playing great defense and running the bases really well, he's trying to impact the game in different ways until he finds his swing."

Tatis is far too talented of a player for this to continue, but the longer that it does, the harder it could feel for him to break out. There is a very real mental side to the game of baseball, and right now, it seems to be controlling the Padres' star.

However, San Diego isn't giving up on Tatis, and they will keep working with him to figure out a solution going forward. But the rest will be up to Tatis to get his bat going to help the club win more games this season.

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