PEORIA, Ariz. -- Fernando Tatis Jr. and Mason Miller reunited in the Padres’ Spring Training clubhouse at the Peoria Sports Complex on Thursday. Surely, they could’ve spent hours swapping stories from their travels at the World Baseball Classic.
But -- naturally -- the talk quickly turned to the at-bat that never happened.
Tatis, of course, was on deck when Miller punched out Geraldo Perdomo looking to end Team USA’s semifinal victory over the Dominican Republic on Sunday night. Had Miller’s 3-2 slider been ruled a ball, the two Padres superstars would’ve squared off on a massive stage.
“We both wanted it,” Tatis said. “We know the caliber of each other. It was going to be a battle, man. It was going to be a really fun battle.”
That’s not entirely true. No question, Miller would’ve embraced that battle. But he didn’t exactly “want” it. At least not in the way that Tatis did.
“You see Tati standing on deck, knowing what he can do, knowing the tournament he was having -- yeah, I'm definitely grateful I didn't have to get him,” Miller said.
So… What if they had faced each other? What if Tatis and Miller had squared off in a showdown similar to the battle between former Angels teammates Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani at the 2023 World Baseball Classic?
Tatis and Miller were two of the stars of the tournament. Tatis batted .400 with a 1.238 OPS. Miller pitched four hitless innings, striking out an absurd 10 of the 14 batters he faced.
Would’ve been quite a showdown (if you’re anyone but Padres manager Craig Stammen, who is already on record as saying the he was rooting hard for that showdown NOT to take place).
“I wanted them to stay teammates, stay in good graces with each other,” Stammen laughed.
Clearly they still are. The Padres had their entire team back together for the first time in two weeks on Thursday, and Tatis and Miller spent part of the early afternoon discussing the matchup that could’ve been.
Miller and Tatis have only met once before in the regular season. Tatis laced a first-inning double off Miller when they met in 2023. But that was a different era. Miller, then pitching for the A’s, had yet to become one of the game’s most dominant relief weapons. In fact, he wasn’t a reliever at all.
The two met on the back fields at the Peoria Sports Complex in February. But, needless to say, that wasn’t the same environment. Tatis was wearing sweatpants. He struck out looking.
This would’ve been a heck of a lot different. A raucous atmosphere in Miami. The tying and winning runs on base. Single elimination. How would Miller have approached the at-bat?
“Just protect that first pitch,” he said. “I like my chances past the first pitch. But when you've got to come in the zone to him, he's always dangerous.”
And Tatis?
“He was going to give me a fastball,” Tatis said, then smiled. “I hope.”
Miller, of course, boasts a fastball north of 100 mph. He also owns one of the sport’s most deadly putaway sliders. The two pitches are a near perfect complement to each other, especially against right-handed hitters, like Tatis.
Asked what pitch he would’ve started Tatis with, Miller hesitated. He clearly didn’t want to give away any secrets. Then, he relented, mouthing: “Slider.”
So Tatis would’ve been fooled, right? He wanted a fastball? Was that really Tatis’ gameplan going into that at-bat against Miller? Look for a first-pitch fastball?
“I'm not saying,” Tatis grinned. “Just in case [we face each other] in three more years. Three more years is around the corner. I can't throw it out there.”
Miller himself added a caveat to the idea of a first-pitch slider to Tatis:
“Mind games,” he said.