Fernando Tatis #23

Fernando Tatis, Jr. was originally signed by the Texas Rangers in 1995...His father, Fernando Tatis, Sr., played baseball in the 1970s in the Houston Astros organization...Also played for Los Leones del Escogido in the Dominican Republic.

2009

Was on an Opening Day roster for the first time since 2003 when he was the starting third baseman for the Montreal Expos at Atlanta...Tied his career-high, finishing the season with four triples...Also had four triples in 1998 when he split the season between St. Louis and Texas...Made his first start in the outfield on April 24th vs. Washington...Went 2-3 with a double, a triple and two runs scored...Started the game in leftfield...Was a defensive replacement at shortstop on May 17th at San Francisco...It was the first time since September 13, 1998 with St. Louis at Houston that he played shortstop... Made the first start of his career at second base on April 19th vs. Milwaukee...He had previously appeared in one game at second base, serving as a defensive replacement for two innings on August 19, 2006 with Baltimore vs. Toronto...Made his first of 20 starts in 2009 at third base...Also started games at first base (32), second base (five) and leftfield (22), while also appearing at shortstop and rightfield...For his career, he has now started games at first base, second base, third base, leftfield, and rightfield...Over 14 games from April 23rd-May 13th, he hit .413 (19-46) with three doubles, one triple, two home runs and seven RBI...Set his season-high with four RBI on May 13th vs. Atlanta, which he would later match on July 27th vs. Colorado...Scored four times on July 2nd at Pittsburgh to establish a single-game career-high...Had a seven-game hitting streak from August 25th-September 1st and batted .429 (12-28)...Established a season-high with four hits on September 12th at Philadelphia...It was the fifth time in his career that he has collected four or more hits and the first since August 15, 1999 with St. Louis vs. Chicago (NL)...The last player to go longer between four-hit games was Boston Braves infielder Sibby Sisti who went 11 years and 47 days (July 11, 1941-August 27, 1952)...Started the game on August 11th at third base and hit in the third position in the batting order...It was the first time since the second game of a doubleheader on May 27, 2001 with Montreal at Philadelphia that he started a game and batted third...Went 1-4 with a run scored...Hit the second pinch-hit home run of his career, a grand slam, in the eighth inning on July 27th vs. Colorado (off Franklin Morales)...It was the first pinchhit grand slam by a Mets player since Todd Pratt hit one on May 30, 2000 at Los Angeles...Connected on the first pinch-hit home run of his career on July 12th vs. Cincinnati (off David Weathers)...The slam was also his eighth career grand slam and second of the season...Also hit a grand slam on May 13th vs. Atlanta (off Buddy Carlyle)...Among active players with 100 or more home runs, he has the highest grand slam percentage with eight of his 111 home runs (7.2%) coming with the bases loaded...Closed the season by hitting .368 (39-106) over his last 39 games...Had eight doubles, one triple, two home runs and 18 RBI over this span...Also finished the season on a six-game hitting streak, hitting .500 (11-22) over the stretch...From August 26th through the final game of the season, he hit .405 (32-79), which was good for second in all of the major leagues among batters with at least 75 at-bats...Finished the year with 22 multi-hit games...Had 16, two-hit games, five, three-hit games, and a season-high four-hit game on September 12th at Philadelphia...His 340 at-bats were his highest total since 2002 (381 at-bats)...His 125 games played were his most since he appeared in 149 contests for the Cardinals in 1999...Went 0-4 in two games with the Dominican Republic during the World Baseball Classic...Hit .294 with 12 doubles, one home run and 14 RBI in 39 games for Estrellas de Oriente in the Dominican Winter League.

2008

Separated his right shoulder diving for a double by Nationals' pitcher Odalis Perez in the fifth inning on September 16th at Washington...An MRI the next day at the Hospital for Special Surgery revealed he had a Grade 3 shoulder separation...Did not play the rest of the season...Named the Comeback Player of the Year by the Major League Baseball Players Association and The Sporting News...Made 35 starts in rightfield, 28 in leftfield, two at third base and one at first base..For the season, he had 17 multiple-hit games, nine games with two hits and eight contests with three hits...Knocked in two runs eight times, three runs twice and four runs three times...Hit safely in 48 of his 66 starts...Hit .311 (33-106) with one home run and 19 RBI vs. lefthanded pitching...Against righthanded pitching, he had a .287 (48-167) average with 10 home runs and 28 RBI...Posted a .350 (50-143) batting average at home...With men in scoring position, he was 29-74 (.392) with four home runs and 36 RBI...Batted .333 (33-99) vs. the National League East...His contract was selected from New Orleans (AAA) of the Pacific Coast League on May 13th...Collected three RBI on May 28th vs. Florida, including a game-winning, two-RBI double in the bottom of the 12th inning....Had his second game winning RBI of the year, May 31st vs. Los Angeles, a single in the bottom of the eighth to give the Mets a 3-2 victory...Through June 23rd, he was hitting .224 (15-67) with one home run and 10 RBI...From June 24th until the end of the year, he hit .320 (66-206) with 10 home runs and 37 RBI...Drove in four runs on July 10th vs. San Francisco...The last time he had four RBI in a game was July 2, 2002, Montreal at Atlanta...Hit his sixth home run of the season to tie the game in the bottom of the sixth inning on July 26th vs. St. Louis (off Ryan Franklin)...Six of his 11 home runs either tied the game or gave the Mets the lead...Eight of his 11 home runs came in the sixth inning or later...Had two doubles and a home run on July 27th vs. St. Louis...It was the second time in his career that he had three extra-base hits in a game (July 10th vs. San Francisco)...Led the majors in hitting during July with a .397 (29-73) average with six home runs and 18 RBI in 25 games...Connected on two home runs on August 5th vs. San Diego (Chris Young, Mike Adams)...It was the eighth multi-home run game of his career and his first since September 16, 2000 with St. Louis vs. Chicago (NL)...Hit in 12 straight games from July 24th-August 6th...During that stretch, he hit .383 (18-47) with three doubles, a triple, four home runs and 11 RBI...Hit in a career-high 13 games from April 12-April 28, 2000...Collected his second outfield assist of the season on August 24th vs. Houston...Also had an outfield assist on June 15th vs. Texas...Collected three hits on September 13th vs. Atlanta to match his season-high...It was the eighth time in 2008 that he collected three hits...Had 36 RBI in his last 56 games...At New Orleans, he played first base, second base, shortstop and leftfield.

2007

Began the season with Ottawa (AAA) of the International League...Joined the Orioles on July 21st...Made 11 starts for Baltimore: four at first base, three at third base, three in left field and one in right field.

2006

Tatis played in the big leagues for the first time since 2003, batting .250 with two home runs. He played the outfield and second base for the first time in his career. Tatis hit .286 against southpaws and .214 against righties.

2005

Did not play professional baseball.

2004

Signed a minor league contract and went to Spring Training with the Devil Rays...Was released on March 24th...Did not play professional baseball the rest of the season.

2003

Was Montreal's Opening Day third baseman for the second time in three years...Spent the last three-and-a-half months of the year on the Disabled List with inflammation in his chest wall.

2002

Missed the first 25 games of the season because of left knee patellar tendinitis.

2001

Spent the majority of the year on the Disabled List, missing 121 games because of shoulder and knee injuries...Underwent surgery on his left patellar tendon on August 7th.

2000

Made his first career appearance at first base, starting for St. Louis against the New York Mets on July 29th. POSTSEASON: Played in all five NLCS games against the New York Mets...Collected two doubles and two RBI.

1999

His 34 home runs broke Ken Boyer's 1960 St. Louis club record of 32 home runs for a third baseman...Became the first player in major league history to hit two grand slams in the same inning, both against Chan Ho Park, in the third inning of the Cardinals' 12-5 victory at Los Angeles on April 23rd...Established a big league record with eight RBI in an inning...Also became the first Cardinal to hit two home runs in the same inning...Tied the club record with three grand slams in one season.

1997

Promoted to the Texas Rangers on July 26th...Singled in his first major league at-bat, July 26th at Chicago (AL) off Wilson Alvarez...Became the first two-time winner of the Rangers' Minor League Player of the Year Award.

1995

Named the Rangers' Minor League Player of the Year...Led the South Atlantic League (A) in doubles.