Triple-A pitchers can breathe a collective sigh of relief: Padres superstar Fernando Tatis Jr. is done terrorizing them. Though Tatis has three games left on his suspension for violating Major League Baseball's joint drug agreement, he's going to hang around San Diego this week before his return to the field, per MLB.com's AJ Cassavell.
The final three games of Tatis' suspension are Monday-Wednesday, so he'll rejoin the Padres on the field in Arizona for Thursday's game.
As alluded to above, Tatis went absolutely bonkers during his rehab stint. In eight games for Triple-A El Paso, Tatis hit .515/.590/1.212. That would be going 17 for 33 with two doubles, seven home runs, 15 RBI, 11 runs and two stolen bases with six walks and three strikeouts in eight games.
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Remember, during Tatis' suspensions he had two surgeries on his injured wrist and also underwent surgery to repair the shoulder that cost him multiple injured list stints in 2021.
When he's been on the field, though, he's been amazing. In 273 career games through his age-22 season (which was 2021), Tatis has hit .292/.369/.596 (160 OPS+). His 162-game averages are 180 hits, 33 doubles, five triples, 48 homers, 116 RBI, 125 runs, 31 steals and 8.1 WAR. Basically, he's played like an MVP throughout his career when he's able to play.
Once the suspension is over and assuming the surgeries fixed what they were intended to fix, the Padres are about to add a dynamic player.
San Diego entered the season with huge expectations and have been a bit disappointing so far, starting the season 8-9. They'll have the 12-4 Braves at home for three games before getting Tatis back in time for a trip to Arizona (four games) and Chicago (three against the Cubs).
