Fernando Tatis Jr. is a 21-year-old budding superstar, manning shortstop for the Padres. On Saturday afternoon, he offered some unique insight into what that's like.
Tatis was mic'd up for a few minutes during the FOX telecast of the Padres' 8-4 loss in Oakland, and he was naturally entertaining. When is he not? At one point, FOX broadcaster Eric Karros asked Tatis who had the best hair on a team that also features Chris Paddack and Mike Clevinger.
"Ooh, that's a good question," Tatis said. "I'm going to go with me. Sorry about it. ... When you look good, you play good."
No question, Tatis has the numbers to match his style. He finished play Saturday hitting .307/.392/.650 with 14 home runs, tied for second in the Major Leagues.
Tatis was one of baseball's top rookies a season ago, but he's taken his game to a different level this year. The FOX crew asked him about that:
"Just consistency, man, that's all it's about," Tatis said. "I'm just trying to shrink the zone a little bit more this year. Last year I was a little bit too wild."
Of course, this was live TV, so when Jonah Heim's bat went flying after he swung at a Paddack fastball, Tatis let slip an "Oh, shoot" (except he didn't quite say shoot). He apologized with his next breath.
Afterward, Padres manager Jayce Tingler was asked whether it was odd to see his starting shortstop speaking on a broadcast while playing his position.
āIs there really anything thatās weird in 2020?ā Tingler said. āThe one thing that I think hurts the most ā¦ is that as well as weāre playing and as fun and energized as this team is, the constant discussion in there is not being able to share that with the fanbase -- in particular the San Diego Padres fanbase.
āIs it a little bit weird? Yeah. But being able to give them access to one of our players with an opportunity to grow the game, we can take an inning or two of weirdness.ā
Tatis wasn't involved in much action during the inning, though he broke hard for a foul popup before stopping and saying, "Too far." He regularly encouraged Paddack throughout the frame and was in constant communication with second baseman Jake Cronenworth. (Before each pitch, they worked out who would cover second base in the event of a steal.)
Tatis -- arguably the sport's premier five-tool player -- is clearly a man of many talents. He's not bad on the mic either.