Padres’ Fernando Tatis Jr. crowned NL’s top defender again in 2025

Fernando Tatis Jr. is no longer just the Padres’ most electric showman. He’s the system. When a ball leaves a barrel and starts screaming toward the right-field corner or the top of the Petco wall, there’s a split second where 40,000 people do the same math: Is 23 anywhere near it? More often than not, the answer in 2025 was “yes,” followed by a familiar scene — Tatis detonating a route, stealing extra bases from stunned hitters, and turning would-be damage into another quiet jog back to the dugout. For a franchise that has bet big on star power, his glove has become the safest wager in the building.

That reality was made official — again — when Rawlings announced Tatis as the National League Platinum Glove winner for 2025, crowning him the league’s top overall defender for the second time in three years. Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. took home the American League honor, but in the NL, voters and metrics aligned around the Padres’ right fielder. The award caps a year where Tatis didn’t just make highlights; he stacked enough run prevention to anchor a postseason club’s entire run-prevention identity. For all the noise that has followed his career, the loudest statement now comes from the numbers next to his name. 

Fernando Tatis Jr. adds another Platinum Glove as Padres’ defensive anchor

Tatis’ 2025 resume reads like overkill. He secured the second Gold Glove of his career on Sunday, then added the fan-voted Platinum Glove on Friday night — and this wasn’t some popularity-contest heist. His 16.3 SABR Defensive Index ranked behind only Giants catcher Patrick Bailey (17.4), underscoring how often independent metrics put him in the exact same conversation as the sport’s premier receivers and middle-infield monsters. Factor in a 6.1 fWAR — top 10 in MLB — driven heavily by elite defense, and it’s clear this version of Tatis has turned the “can he handle right field?” question into a relic from another era. 

The play-by-play of his season backs it up. Tatis led all right fielders with 15 Defensive Runs Saved, per Sports Info Solutions, a mark that also tied him with Pete Crow-Armstrong for the most DRS among all NL outfielders. He robbed at least four home runs, erased daring baserunners with that railing-rattling arm, and shrunk gapped-out contact into loud, useless outs. Since committing fully to right field in 2023, he’s lapped the field with +42 DRS — the widest cushion of any NL outfielder over that span — and turned what once felt like a defensive compromise into one of the game’s true premium gloves. 

This is the through-line that matters for San Diego. Tatis’ bat will always be dissected, his slumps magnified, his star power graded on a different curve. But the defense has become the stabilizing trait you build around. Petco Park demands outfielders who can cover acreage and play the wall; the Padres now have a superstar who does that and erases mistakes from everyone in front of him. Platinum and Gold in 2025, Gold and Platinum in 2023: the pattern is no accident. This is a sustained defensive transformation, not a one-year glow-up.

For the Padres’ front office, there’s a practical edge baked into all the hardware. Locking in elite, repeatable defense in right field allows them to take more calculated swings elsewhere on the roster, confident that one corner of the outfield is not just solved, but weaponized. It reframes Tatis’ value, too: he’s no longer only the face of the franchise at the plate; he’s the tone-setter for how they prevent runs, extend seasons, and sell the idea that this core still has championship DNA. Two Platinum Gloves in three years say as much — and if this is the baseline for Fernando Tatis Jr. in right field, the Padres’ best defensive days might still be ahead of them.