San Diego – Wednesday night – After Padres finished 8-1 demolition of the Giants at Petco Park – Fernando Tatis Jr. If you were ever a 10-year-old who was obsessed with baseball, you might be connected with you.
Tatis lives with his father in a first-floor apartment in New York, while Tatis plays for the Mets. Tatis recalled that the walls of the apartment were a little taller than him. He did anything a kid who was obsessed with baseball would do. He got a ball…
“I used to throw it on the wall as much as possible,” Tatis said. “And I'll try to jump. Obviously, I missed 25 of them. So I have to jump over the wall and try to catch the ball again. Yes, it starts from there.”
Sixteen years later, Tatis is Platinum Glover – he is robbing a major league home run, a routine basis.
On Wednesday, he headed to the first home run Rob Rafael Devers to lay the foundation for the Padres' victory, which gave them a game in a match with the Dodgers of National League West in the National League West. This marks the third time Tatis has recovered the correct field home run in Petco Park's final 18 games.
“I've been hunting since the beginning,” Tatis said. “I know if it's close to the wall and I have a chance. It's nice to do that for my starting pitcher.”
One tip: If you are a visitor looking to have a home run at Petco Park, it's best to clear the right field wall at least a few feet.
Otherwise, Tatis might catch it.
On July 28, it wasn't Tatis robbed Mark Vientos – where he went well beyond the fence to bring it back. However, this is probably the fastest, and Tatis rarely has time to retreat. The moment he reached the wall, he airborne, reaching his gloves to the apex to bring back Devers' drive.
“It’s really an art form,” said manager Mike Shildt. “It's the timing of time. Then, it's just athleticism.”
After capturing the capture, Tatis fell on the ground on the warning track, sitting there without hesitation, wearing a ball of gloves. Pate Park erupted when he showed up and flipped it into his hand and threw it into the infield. Devers can only laugh.
It sets the stage for emphasis (and important) Padres victory. Gavin Banban has been twice. Manny Machado and Ryan O'Hearn also went deep. JP Sears shot six innings and one inning. San Diego narrowed the gap on the NL West list as the Dodgers lost at Colorado – a series of gaps between the two this weekend.
Despite some ups and downs on the plate, Tatis is still playing a great defense for Padres as he leads all the right field players to 10 points above average. He won the Platinum Glove Award for his first entire season as an outfielder in 2023. At least, he seems destined to win the second Golden Glove Award in 25 years.
“You can almost expect his madness,” Padres rescuer Jason Adam said last month, who robbed Josh Naylor and the Rattlesnakes in early July — two home run robberies.
Tatis took the lead at the bottom of the inning with a leading double in the burglary on Wednesday before finishing the first match on O'Hearn's two RBI singles. Padres has been leading the way. The sheets made a solo home run on the second home run and then made the game out of reach with a three-point shooting percentage in Game 3, making the score 6-0.
With home runs with Machado (and third) and O'Hern (seventh), Padres' four home runs marked their season high at Petco Park (and anywhere outside Coors Stadium).
“It makes us really dangerous.” Sheets talk about the power surge of a Padres team, usually scoring without a long ball. “I think we put a lot of pressure in our stable way, putting the gap on the gap by the way we do the contact. But I think the power is contagious, too.”
Hit four and get them back – usually a very solid recipe.