How foolish of me, last year when the suspension was placed on Fernando Tatis Jr. for using a prohibited substance to, so says he, treat an unrelated injury, to think that that would be the premature end of the Tatis Jr. legend. And yet here we are.
I'm still not quite sure if I'm allowed to like Tatis again. I've been like this with most players suspended for different types of PEDs that aren't exactly steroids. A lot of the time it is intentional, like Robinson Cano and Richard Rodriguez, and I have to grapple with that. Sometimes the player claims that it's a mistake but you're not exactly sure. This grey area stuff always drives me batty, because I genuinely don't know what I'm supposed to believe, and I just have to forge my own path. When Trevor Bauer's suspension came up, I was trying to hear both sides out and I was just confused as to why suspensions were being given out over what I thought was just a rough sex thing, and then more allegations came out and then...yeah, let him rot in obscurity. Tatis's, yeah there were talks that he was telling the truth and he didn't mean to, but there were also people who went 'yeah, right' and thought he was playing the naive card, a lot like many Mitchell Report attendees did.
Granted, he didn't pull a Sammy Sosa and play the 'I can't speak English' card, but when you're just given a statement, it's hard to pull intent and genuine emotion out of that.
So, needless to say, Tatis is doing awesome again. He's hitting .285, has 34 RBIs, 14 homers and 59 hits in 50 games, that's pretty insane. Not only is he hitting well and playing like he did before the injury, he's taken to the outfield fairly easily, and isn't a defensive liability there. The fact that you can keep both Ha-Seong Kim and Tatis in the lineup ups the defense by a lot. Hell, the Padres have begun to turn things around in the last week or so because Tatis is doing so well. He's a big part of why this team could sneak up and do something big late in the year.
And...I think I'm alright with him? I think it's okay to like Tatis again? Cause he's still one of the most electrifying players in the game, he's still in his prime, and having him, Machado and Soto in the same lineup is friggin awesome and we may never have the stars align like this again. But...I'm still slightly conflicted. We'll see what happens going forward, or if he actually was telling the truth and just made a mistake. I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt for now, especially as he performs this well, but I'm open to new information.
Coming Tonight: A heavy Rookie of the Year candidate just beginning to figure things out.
As a Padres fan... I'm glad to see him find success at the plate... and even the field. Now if the rest of those big name hitters could only find their groove and maintain it longer than 1 or 2 games.
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