Padres should rethink Fernando Tatis Jr.’s role before his power outage defines it

Fernando Tatis Jr.’s power outage is no longer just weird. It’s starting to become a roster question for the San Diego Padres. Still, the Padres shouldn’t panic. Tatis hasn’t suddenly forgotten how to hit baseballs very, very hard. The batted-ball data still says there is a dangerous hitter in there somewhere. Baseball Savant has him with a 91.9 mph average exit velocity, a 56.3 percent hard-hit rate and an 11.9 percent barrel rate, which makes the zero-home-run part of this season feel even stranger.  

But that’s exactly why the Padres should be willing to think bigger than, “Wait until it fixes itself.”

Through the early part of the 2026 season, Tatis has been stuck in one of the strangest stretches of his career. He’s still searching for his first home run despite more than 150 plate appearances, a power drought that has drawn national attention because it doesn’t match the physical ability, the contract, the reputation or the way the ball still comes off his bat.  

The problem is not that Tatis looks weak. The problem is that his current offensive shape doesn’t really look like a corner outfielder’s profile.

Right field is supposed to be a power spot. Not every right fielder has to be a cartoon slugger who only hits mistakes into the second deck, but the offensive bar is different there. If Tatis is going to live with ground balls, opposite-field contact and very little pull-side lift, the Padres have to ask whether that version of him is being deployed in the best possible way.

A hard-hitting, athletic, contact-heavy version of Tatis with elite speed and defensive versatility looks a lot more interesting at second base than it does in right field.

Fernando Tatis Jr. gives the Padres a different kind of roster solution at second base

The Padres already cracked this door open. Tatis made his first career start at second base in April against the Rockies. He’s a former shortstop with strong infield instincts. And he has the athleticism to make the experiment feel more credible than gimmicky. 

And that’s the whole point. It’s not about hiding him. It’s about using the fact that he’s one of the rare players talented enough to give the Padres options.

Tatis even seemed to embrace the extra involvement that comes with the infield, saying there’s “more quick action” at second base because of double plays and constant traffic around the bag. So if the bat stays stuck in this version of itself, second base actually makes more sense.

It also gives the Padres more freedom to build the lineup the way a contender should.

Right now, if Tatis is locked into right field while not providing corner-outfield thump, the Padres are boxed into an awkward offensive math problem. They need more impact. Moving Tatis to second more often could open right field for a more traditional power bat — the Nick Castellanos-style profile, for example — without forcing the Padres to pretend their lineup is already carrying enough slug.

That is not a declaration that Tatis should never play right field again. He is still excellent out there when he is right, and his defensive ceiling in right remains special. But the Padres cannot let his past version bully them into ignoring the present version.

When the power comes back, great. Then San Diego has a superstar with even more defensive flexibility than it already realized. But if this power outage lingers, the Padres should not just sit around hoping the old shape of Tatis’ production returns quickly enough to solve everything.

Tatis at second base doesn’t have to be a demotion, a panic move or a permanent identity change. If anything, it would be an acknowledgment of a spot the Padres have been trying to stabilize all season. Jake Cronenworth hasn’t provided enough offense to make second base feel settled, so using Tatis there more often wouldn’t be creating a new problem. It would be trying to solve an existing one while also giving San Diego a cleaner path to add more power in right field.

That also doesn’t mean Sung-Mun Song gets pushed out of the picture, either. If the Padres are not ready to deploy him as an everyday player, there’s still room to move him around and see whether he fits best as a superutility option. That might actually be the cleaner roster vision: Tatis gives them more upside at second, Song gives them flexibility across the diamond and right field becomes a spot where San Diego can chase the kind of power bat this lineup still needs.

The Padres just need to be honest enough to admit that Tatis’ current skill set might help them more in a different role.

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