Padres fans ripped into star OF Fernando Tatis Jr. after San Diego was shut down 4-0 by divisional rivals Los Angeles Dodgers at home in Petco Park on Wednesday night. With the win, the incumbent World Series champions secured a crucial intra-divisional series win on the road, effectively bouncing back from a 1-0 loss in the series opener on Monday.
Criticism of the Dominican OF arose after his loose grounder in the fifth inning, which led to a double play that ended the inning and kept the home side from opening their account on the night. The series loss now puts San Diego in second place in the NL West with a 29-20 record, 1.5 games behind the division-leading LAD.
Fans were arguably disappointed when Tatis Jr. swung at the first pitch with bases loaded and one out in the fifth inning, viewing it as a promising scoring chance that the Dominican squandered.
“Fernando might be the worst to ever do it,” one fan commented.
“It’s time for a conversation about Tatis Jr,” another fan commented.
“Don’t even know what to say anymore. Tatis is broken and part of why this offense has been the worst in MLB all season. Idk how to fix him and I don’t know what that means for the future of this team,” yet another fan commented.
Fans continued to lash out at Tatis Jr., with some questioning his credibility as a lead-off hitter this season given his underperforming slash line. Other fans criticized the team’s poor offense this season, suggesting it was high time the big names on the roster stepped up at the plate.
“Fernando is such a hard watch this year. No clue how he’s still in the 1 spot at this point,” one fan commented.
“Swings at a 1st pitch ball after Ohtani walks the previous hitter. Tatis can’t do anything right,” another fan commented.
“Can only get carried by Miguel Andujar, Ty France, and Gavin Sheets for so long. At some point Tatís, Machado, and Merrill are gonna have to show up,” yet another fan commented.
Padres Hitting Coach is Puzzled by Fernando Tatis Jr.’s Power Outage This Season
With a veiled tone of concern about Tatis Jr.’s lack of power hitting and consistency at the plate this season, Padres hitting coach Steven Souza Jr. shared his candid opinion on the matter in an exclusive conversation with the San Diego Union-Tribune last month.
“It’s wild, honestly. I go home and I think about it. I mean, it’s only a matter of time. They come in bunches and he hits the ball so hard. It’s missiles. Watching him this year, it’s like he should be hitting .380,” Souza Jr. said.
Since signing a blockbuster 14-year, $340 million contract extension with San Diego before the 2021 season, the 2025 Platinum Gold Glover has faced extremely high expectations. Only time will tell if the Dominican can recover from his current slump and perform well for the rest of the campaign.
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