Fernando Tatis Jr. didn’t do himself any favors with motorcycle accident comment

San Diego Padres star Fernando Tatis Jr. indicated that he had more than one motorcycle accident while on vacation this offseason. 

When news broke that Fernando Tatis Jr. arrived at spring training camp with a wrist injury, it was believed that this was a result of a December motorcycle accident Tatis Jr. suffered while on vacation.

Tatis Jr. then opened up to media about the “couple of incidents” in which he experienced “minor scrapes” while on his bike.

“It could be anything,” Tatis Jr. said. “I had one more fall, but like I mentioned, it’s just small pain and it goes away during other activities, but when you’re trying to ramp it up and push it out there, that’s where it comes in.”

When a reporter asked him to clarify details about the motorcycle accident, Tatis Jr. responded by saying, “Which one?”

Fernando Tatis Jr. was involved in multiple scrapes with motorcycle

Tatis Jr. also noted that if there was no lockout at the time, it could have “definitely been a different story” in regards to his injury. Whatever damage there was, it seems the pain went away and Tatis Jr. felt fine, so he didn’t get a scan. Since he was not doing baseball activities and therefore not straining the area, he didn’t notice that it would become an issue come baseball season.

That being said, there are often clauses in athlete contracts that do not financially protect them against non-baseball-related injuries sustained in the offseason, which is intended to discourage dangerous activities such as repeatedly driving — and crashing — a motorcycle. It doesn’t seem like Tatis Jr. took the risk of learning to drive a motorcycle all that seriously, so neither did the Internet.

While surgery has yet to be scheduled, an optimistic return for Tatis Jr. would be by this summer.