The Padres activated shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr. in San Diego on Friday, as expected, placing him at second base in the lineup for the highly anticipated game against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Petco Park.
The Dodgers defeated the Padres 11-6 in 12 innings. Tatis returned to center field for Walker Buehler to take a 2-1 lead in the fifth. But his throwing error at shortstop allowed the Dodgers to score three runs in the sixth on two singles, a walk and a wild pitch. With runners on first and third base and two outs, Tatis stopped Chris Taylor’s single with a nice dive, and his throw to second base went past Cronenworth, who was late to cover the bag.
Outfielder Tucupita Marcano was selected as the team’s backup outfielder to make room for Tatis on the active roster.
Tatis has been on the injury list for 10 days, recovering from a subluxation of his left shoulder after a hard hit on the 5th. April. This was his third incident with the shoulder in 23 days, and admittedly, Tatis has been struggling with this problem his entire career.
Subluxations, where the shoulder slips out of its socket but is not completely dislocated, often lead to surgery. However, there are also cases where players can manage the condition over a longer period of time. The Padres hope Tatis can be part of that latter group. But that might require some changes in his game, including holding both hands on the bat more often to avoid jolts and misses that could leave his shoulder vulnerable to another attack.
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The reality is you go out there and get the game going, the adrenaline, all those things, Padres manager Jace Tingler said. We tried to use the last seven days, the last ten days, to discuss with the medical team how best to reduce the risks. You know, things like that happen in the game. So we try to make the best of it by talking about some of the dangers or high risks. The last thing we want here in a few days, a few weeks, a few months is for something to happen again. We have a long year this year, and it’s clear he has a long career ahead of him. We tried to hide those things, knowing he was going to be a baseball player.
Tatis collected 6.5 fan-base wins above replacement with 22 at-bats (.301/.374/.582), 39 home runs, 27 stolen bases and eight triples in his first 143 games of 2019-2020. Before the start of the 2021 season, he had already signed major marketing deals with Gatorade and Adidas, received coverage on MLB The Show and signed a 14-year, $340 million contract extension.
But in the first four games of the regular season this year, Tatis had just three hits in 16 at-bats, had six strikeouts and committed five errors. Some scouts who have watched him closely think he favors his left shoulder, which gave him trouble a few times in spring training.
Tatis was in a lot of pain immediately after the subluxation, but Padres general manager A.J. Preller said Tatis felt much better shortly after and looked forward to returning to the starting lineup the next day. Tatis’ MRI, Preller said, showed a small tear in the labrum consistent with a subluxation, but not much different from his previous examination. He added that Tatis had regained his full range of motion and would try to deal with the injury after a short IL break.
Friday was the first day he could return.
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