Padres Reveal Plans For Fernando Tatis Jr. Return After He Missed Entire 2022 MLB Season With Injury And Suspension

Getty Image


It’s not all that long ago that San Diego Padres superstar Fernando Tatis Jr. was on top of the baseball world.

Tatis Jr., the son of a longtime MLB veteran, had a dominant 2021 season. He hit .282 with 42 home runs and 97 RBIs in just 130 games as a shortstop, finishing third in the National League MVP race behind Bryce Harper and now teammate Juan Soto.

He was also the cover athlete for the game’s biggest video game, MLB The Show 21.

But it’s been all downhill from there.

The Dominican superstar broke his wrist prior to the 2022 season, which put him on the shelf for an estimated three months. The injury ended up taking over five months to heal, and just as Tatis Jr. neared a return the news got even worse

Major League Baseball suspended the superstar for 80 for a violation of its performance-enhancing drug policy. He served the majority of the suspension in 2022, including missing the Padres’ run to the NLCS. But he still has still has 20 games left before he can officially return on April 20 against the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Unofficially, however, Tatis is just days away from a comeback.

That’s because the suspension does not apply to spring training games, and San Diego manager Bob Melvin told reporters he expects the star to make his unofficial 2023 debut very soon.

Melvin told reporters that Tatis Jr. could well make his spring training debut on Tuesday when the Padres take on the San Francisco Giants.

It would mark his first live action against Major League pitching in over a year.

The Padres enter the 2023 season with World Series aspirations after last year’s playoff run and the addition of superstar Xander Bogaerts in free agency.

Bogaerts is expected to play shortstop in San Diego, as he did in Boston, with Tatis moving to the outfield when he returns for good.

Clay Sauertieg BroBible avatar and headshot
Clay Sauertieg is an Editor at BroBible. A Pennsylvania based writer, he largely focuses on college football, motorsports and soccer in addition to other sports and culture news.