Padres’ Fernando Tatis Jr. explains what fueled unprecedented power turnaround

Fernando Tatis Jr. spent 55 games looking like his bat was unplugged. Four months later, MLB.com has him ranked as the fourth-hottest hitter in baseball. He’s covered an absurd amount of distance this season. He’s gone from zero home runs through May 29 to 23 by the middle of September. His .550 slugging percentage since finally breaking through on May 30 ranks seventh among qualified hitters. Only Carl Yastrzemski endured a longer season-opening homer drought among players who had previously produced a 40-homer season.

Tatis had the power history, elite exit velocity and a $340 million contract. He simply couldn’t get the baseball over the fence. Now he is back near the top of MLB’s Hitter Power Rankings, and the Padres returned home from a 6-1 road trip with genuine breathing room in the NL Wild Card race. 

Fernando Tatis Jr.’s struggles forced him to rebuild his swing

Tatis offered a somewhat blunt explanation when asked what sparked the turnaround.

“Three months of struggling,” he said.

He eventually boiled the solution down to “right mechanics, right approach at the right time.” The mechanical change was visible. Tatis began the season with a much more closed stance than the one he used in 2025. During a two-day stretch in May, he went from standing nearly square to the pitcher to opening his stance roughly 32 degrees. He stayed there.

That adjustment helped him catch fastballs out front, pull the ball with authority and get his hardest contact into the air. Early in the season, too many rockets were headed toward the opposite field or being pounded into the ground. Raw power does little good when the baseball keeps meeting an infielder’s ankles.

The patience he developed during the outage may prove just as valuable. Tatis still found ways to contribute while his signature weapon malfunctioned. He reached base, ran aggressively and continued playing high-level defense in right field. He returned home from Colorado slashing .286/.355/.462 with a 817 OPS and 35 stolen bases to go with those 23 homers.

We might as well talk about the contract because everybody else does. A 14-year, $340 million deal follows Tatis into every slump. When he, Manny Machado and Jackson Merrill all homered in Atlanta in July, Tatis addressed those expectations.

“That’s why we got paid,” he said.

Those first 55 games were unacceptable. He knows this. Tatis is paid to alter games in the field and at the plate. The Padres spent two months receiving everything except the swing. He made the most of what he had to offer. But it wasn’t up to standard.

The Padres cannot erase April and May, but they can benefit from the hitter who emerged from them.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow