Fernando Tatis Jr.'s steroids suspension ends on Thursday when he's back on the field with the Padres when they start a series in Arizona against the Diamondbacks. While getting ready for that return he might have become the most famous minor league baseball player in history.
The El Paso Chihuahuas have existed for 10 years. It took Tatis Jr. a week to do something nobody in franchise history could accomplish. On Thursday he had five hits, including three home runs, and drove in eight runs. Friday was a scheduled day off.
On Saturday night Fernando was live again, and blasting baseballs all over the place. He led off with another home run, and it was a missile that sailed not just over the left field fence at Southwest University Park ... it left the entire stadium and bounced into a parking lot.
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That was an impressive blast. His next at-bat might have been even more jaw-dropping. Tatis took the first pitch he saw and smoked it 435 feet THE OTHER WAY, hitting it out of the stadium again to right-centerfield. That gave him five homers in seven at-bats, a fresh feat for a Chihuahua.
Tatis chased that with a pair of infield singles, giving him nine hits in two games (another franchise first). His stat line in AAA is like something out of a video game. He's played seven games and gotten 28 at-bats, which he's used to hit six home runs, drive in 14, score 10 more, all while batting .536 with an unheard of 1.868 OPS.
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Oh, and he's also playing an above-average right field as he continues to learn a brand new defensive position. Sure, plenty of guys have put up video game numbers in El Paso and not had it translate to the Major Leagues. Tatis Jr. is very different. He already owns a pair of MLB Silver Slugger awards and won a National League home run title.
He won't be hitting nearly a home run a game. But he's going to make a lot of big league pitchers very uncomfortable.
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