Fernando Tatis Jr. Has Hit Obscene Number of Monster Home Runs

Vlad Guerrero Jr. may be the current king of the home run, but Fernando Tatis Jr. is the mayor of Slam Diego. 

The San Diego Padres shortstop continues to launch monster home run after monster home run, and he’s now up to 19 on the year following this mammoth blast he hit against the New York Mets.

Tatis Jr. has the fourth-best odds to lead the league in home runs on WynnBET at +700, and he’s also trailing just Jacob deGrom (+175) in the odds list for the National League’s MVP award. Tatis Jr.’s odds are set at +200 to win the award. 

To say that we’ve never seen power from a shortstop like we’ve seen from Tatis Jr. isn’t really an overreaction. Despite missing 18 games, he’s second in the MLB in homers, and if he stays healthy the rest of the season, he’s on pace to hit over 55 homers this season. 

The last time a shortstop led either the American or National league in home runs was in 2003 when Alex Rodriguez did it for the Texas Rangers. However, if you look at the National League only, Tatis Jr. could be the first shortstop to lead in the NL in homers since Ernie Banks during the 1960 season. 

Any time that you’re on pace to do something that hasn’t been done in over 60 years, you’re doing something special. 

Despite Tatis Jr.’s heroics, the Padres are in third place in the NL West, partly due to the myriad of injuries in their lineup. Trent Grisham and Austin Nola will provide a boost to the offense when they return, but San Diego is going to be in a year-long battle with the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants in the NL West. 

 Even though they’re currently third in their own division, the Padres and Tatis Jr. have WynnBET’s second-best odds to win the World Series at +700. They trail only the defending champion Dodgers (+300).