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<\/p>\nSAN DIEGO \u2014 Two hundred fourteen days after he last homered in a big-league game, Fernando Tatis Jr. stepped into the batter\u2019s box with no outs and the bases loaded. It was the bottom of the eighth, the San Diego Padres trailed by two runs and the crowd at Petco Park stirred with anticipation. Then, on a 1-1 count, Chicago Cubs reliever Ben Brown hung a curveball.<\/p>\n
Tatis coiled and unleashed an all-out swing, making 102.8 mph contact off the bat. For a second, he tracked the ball\u2019s trajectory as it soared toward center field.<\/p>\n
That was before he looked away in disgust.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been close for a while, but it\u2019s just a sacrifice fly,\u201d Tatis said Wednesday, slouched in his clubhouse chair after a 5-4 loss. \u201cI just see it that way.\u201d<\/p>\n
One of the most maddening months of his standout career had come to an unsatisfying end. Through 30 games, the Padres right fielder leads the majors with a 64.7 percent hard-hit rate, pacing ahead of Munetaka Murakami, Ben Rice and James Woods, all of whom have produced double-digit home runs.<\/p>\n
Yet, Tatis, batting .250 with four doubles and no other extra-base hits, has practically nothing to show for it.<\/p>\n
His 55 batted balls with an exit velocity of at least 95 mph are four more than the next-closest player, Kansas City Royals superstar Bobby Witt Jr. It\u2019s also one of the higher totals since the start of the 2015 season; Tatis holds the Statcast-era record for a calendar month with 66 exit velocities of 95-plus mph. Unlike in August 2020, however, he has consistently struggled to elevate or pull baseballs, instead torching colonies of imaginary worms.<\/p>\n
Tatis\u2019 average launch angle, fly-ball rate and pull percentage are at all-time lows. His season-opening streak of 131 plate appearances without a home run is one shy of the career-worst power outage he experienced last summer. No other player has gone up to bat more times this season without going deep.<\/p>\n
April is over for Tatis, but given his recent history, there might not be an end on the horizon.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m doing everything,\u201d Tatis said. \u201cHitting early, doing batting practice, after (games). It still doesn\u2019t turn around. I don\u2019t know. Trying to figure it out.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was almost three weeks ago that Tatis voiced his belief that \u201cthe baseball gods are really mad at me.\u201d That sentiment remains unchanged. On the Padres\u2019 recent trip through Coors Field and Estadio Alfredo Harp Hel\u00fa \u2014 two ballparks located a mile or more above sea level \u2014 Tatis went 5-for-21 with five singles, inspiring sympathy and consternation.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve never seen that before,\u201d Padres bench coach Randy Knorr said. \u201cEvery night, he\u2019s just crushing balls, and it happens to be at somebody out there. And you kind of feel bad for him because he\u2019s working hard every day, and you feel like if a couple of them would just drop for him, he can get on a roll.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI do think that he\u2019s, like, super close,\u201d Padres hitting coach Steven Souza Jr. said. \u201cI feel like I\u2019ve been saying that for three weeks, but I do think it\u2019s a matter of a couple clicks and ironing some stuff out, and then it\u2019s just going to go.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re working on it. We continue to work,\u201d Padres hitting instructor Raul Padron said. \u201cYou know, being the No. 1 guy hitting the ball hard in all of MLB and not getting the result he wants, it\u2019s kind of hard.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\n Fernando Tatis Jr.\u2019s 131 plate appearances are the most by any player without a home run this season. (Michael Reaves \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Like Knorr and Souza, Padron is a newcomer on rookie manager Craig Stammen\u2019s coaching staff, but he has known Tatis since the outfielder was a teenage shortstop. In 2018, Padron was the hitting coach for Double-A San Antonio when Tatis emerged as arguably the best prospect in baseball.<\/p>\n
Since then, Tatis has received a 14-year, $340 million contract and delivered 42 home runs in an injury-shortened season. He has also undergone shoulder and wrist surgeries, served a PED suspension and, over the past three years, failed to come close to his previous power production.<\/p>\n
Even so, a red-splashed Baseball Savant page hints at the ability that remains.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s about timing,\u201d Padron said. \u201cIt\u2019s a little bit out of whack, but he\u2019s continued to hit the ball hard. Good things are going to happen. \u2026 You just got to hang with it a little bit and put your work in every day, and eventually it will be happening for him.\u201d<\/p>\n