Padres: Fernando Tatis Jr. quietly returned as one of baseball’s best power bats

DENVER — Don’t look now, but Fernando Tatis Jr. is hitting his stride and hopefully helping the San Diego Padres hit theirs as well.

Entering Saturday’s road game against the Colorado Rockies with a disappointing 30-33 record, the San Diego Padres have yet to hit on all cylinders this season.

Whether it has been injuries to Manny Machado, Joe Musgrove and Xander Bogaerts, or slow starts at the plate from Machado and Jake Cronenworth, there are plenty of reasons why the Padres haven’t lived up to expectations just yet.

However, Tatis is certainly doing his part. Since returning from his PED suspension on April 20, Tatis has posted a slash line of .262/.313/.514 with 12 homers and 30 RBI. His 2.0 bWAR is third on the team, and he only seems to be heating up.

Heading into Saturday, Tatis has logged a hit in seven of his last eight games, and four of those were multi-hit games. Over that eight-game stretch, he’s batting .364 with five doubles, three home runs, and a .788 slugging percentage.

Fernando Tatis Jr. looks like a top bat again

Want more proof that Tatis could heat up even more? He has a .343 career average in the month of June along with a .423 on base percentage and .711 slugging percentage. Among active MLB players, those numbers for the month rank second (slugging and on base percentage) and fifth (batting average).

Despite wondering earlier in the month if the baseball gods were upset with the Padres, it’s clear that Tatis has found a way to not only excel but also take all of the shots from opposing fans about his PED suspension in stride.

There were plenty of reasons for Padres fans and even manager Bob Melvin to be skeptical of exactly what kind of impact Tatis would have this season after missing the entire 2022 campaign because of injuries and the suspension. However, a second bid to the MLB All-Star Game certainly seems to be possible for the 24-year-old phenom who just keeps showing he is one of the most talented players in the game today.