San Diego Padres outfielder Fernando Tatis Jr. recorded his first hit in a regular season contest since Oct. 2, 2021 (GameTracker) on Friday night against the Arizona Diamondbacks. Tatis turned on an elevated heater and lined a single against right-hander Zac Gallen in the top of the sixth inning.
According to Statcast, Tatis' batted ball had an exit velocity of 105.6 mph. At the time of his hit, that was the second-hardest struck ball of the night. Diamondbacks outfielder Corbin Carroll had previously recorded an exit velocity of 109.8 mph on a line out in the bottom of the fifth inning.
Tatis missed the entirety of the 2022 season for a variety of reasons. At first, he was sidelined by a wrist injury suffered in a motorcycle accident. Later, he was suspended by Major League Baseball after testing positive for a banned substance. Tatis' suspension, 80 games in all, expired on Wednesday, allowing him to rejoin the Padres lineup on Thursday. (It's worth noting that the Padres' postseason run last year counted toward the suspension, allowing him to return earlier than if the Padres had been eliminated in the first round.)
Tatis went 0 for 5 in his season debut on Thursday. He struck out twice and hit a pair of lineouts in what amounted to a 7-5 Padres victory. Prior to his single on Friday night, he had struck out and hit a ground out to third base.
Tatis, 24, had solidified himself as one of the best players in the game heading into the 2022 calendar year. To wit, he had accumulated a 160 OPS+ and 13.6 Wins Above Replacement over the course of his first 273 big-league games.
The Padres entered Friday with a 10-11 record, putting them in third place in the National League West. San Diego trailed the first-place Diamondbacks by 1 ½ games.
