Fernando Tatís Jr. injury update: Padres power hitter is expected to swing soon

The San Diego Padres faced a difficult start to their season with Fernando Tatís Jr. starting the year on the IL with a wrist fracture.

According to the San Diego Union-Tribune, he’s finally expected to take full swings off a tee in two weeks. After he’s swinging full speed off the tee, he’ll hit from a pitching machine for 10 days. The newspaper reports he’d begin a rehab assignment after that if all went well.

Luckily, the Friars found success with Manny Machado carrying the offense until he got sidelined from injury, too. Tatís’ return has been long-awaited. If he can return to the caliber he was at last season, he’d easily save the struggling lineup.

San Diego Padres power hitter Fernando Tatís Jr. could save the lineup

The Padres’ lineup is undoubtedly suffering and needs power and reliability. Beyond Machado and Tatís, Jorge Alfaro has the highest isolated power (.200). However, he also has the third-highest strikeout rate on the team (32.9 percent) and the third-lowest walk rate (4.5 percent).

The more reliable hitters on the team don’t provide nearly as much power as Machado or Tatís. Last season, Tatís had excellent isolated power (.328), which is significantly above Machado’s this season (.217). Eric Hosmer, one of the next best hitters, has significantly lower isolated power at .125.

Tatís also produced his highest wins above replacement (7.3) last season. He was the leading hitter in 2021 with 42 total home runs and he was hitting .282/.364/.611 for an OPS of .975.

This season, Machado has been nearly impossible to stand out above, but Tatís could set the bar even higher. If Machado and Tatís make their comebacks around the same time, the lineup could be unstoppable.