SAN DIEGO -- No, it’s not a typo.
Fernando Tatis Jr. is the Padres’ starting second baseman on Saturday night.
Seemingly out of nowhere, Tatis -- the two-time Platinum Glove Award-winning right fielder -- made his first career start at second base in the Padres’ game against the Rockies at Petco Park.
Tatis broke through in the big leagues as a shortstop before making the full-time move to the outfield in 2023. He’s only made one career appearance at second base -- late in a game on Sept. 6, 2023 -- though he started 10 games there in the Minor Leagues.
Where did this come from?
It’s not entirely out of left field. (Or, well, right field for Tatis.)
Since his move to the outfield, Tatis has regularly taken ground balls in the infield, and the majority of those grounders have come at second base. He likes getting work at the position -- where he stays on the right side of the field, so the angles off the bat are largely the same as they are in right.
In recent weeks, Tatis’ reps at second base have increased. But there was almost no indication that he’d get to play the position in a game -- until Saturday’s lineup was announced.
The Padres don’t have an obvious backup at second base right now with Sung-Mun Song on the injured list with a left oblique strain. Ty France is capable of handling second, but not all that well.
So on Saturday, when San Diego wanted to give Xander Bogaerts a day off -- meaning starting second baseman Jake Cronenworth would be sliding to short for the day -- we learned who the preferred backup second baseman is. And nobody saw it coming.
Will this last?
Almost certainly not with any regularity. Tatis is a right fielder -- perhaps the best right fielder in baseball. The Padres still view him that way.
But clearly new manager Craig Stammen doesn’t see any harm in moving Tatis around every once in a while.
When Song returns -- and, in the midst of a rehab assignment with Triple-A El Paso, he’s probably not too far off -- he’ll become the primary backup at basically every spot in the infield except first base. For now, however, the Padres can use Nick Castellanos in right field -- where he spent nearly all of his time in Philadelphia -- with Tatis at second.
What to expect
Who knows?! We have almost no data on Tatis at second base. He didn’t play there in Spring Training. In the only inning he played there in 2023, he made a couple plays. But that was three years ago.
The impetus behind Tatis’ move to the outfield was that his athleticism and arm strength would play well in right field. He’d dealt with injury concerns as an infielder, and he’d struggled a bit at shortstop, particularly making throwing errors. Obviously, the throw from second base is a bit easier.
At the very least, Tatis shouldn’t have any issue with the angles off the bat, having starred in right field for the past three seasons. It’s almost certainly part of the reason that his grand return to the infield came at second base rather than short.
What about Tatis’ offense?
He’s off to a dreadful start, entering Saturday hitting just .189 with a .519 OPS through 14 games. He’s also been supremely unlucky, at least according to the batted-ball data which tracks expected outcomes, given quality of contact. (Tatis has been hitting the ball hard, with little to show for it.)
On Friday he noted that “the baseball gods are mad at me right now.”
In the context of all that, there are two ways to view Tatis’ move to second base:
1. It’s an unnecessary challenge heaped on the shoulders of a struggling superstar.
2. It’s the type of challenge Tatis might have fun with, perhaps lightening the burden he feels in relation to his struggles.
Clearly, the Padres feel strongly it’ll be the latter.