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Fernando Tatis Jr had emotional comments after Padres return, support from home crowd

Eric Cole
Eric Cole

Friars On Base

Detroit Tigers v San Diego Padres / Matt Thomas/San Diego Padres/GettyImages

For all of the good news that the San Diego Padres have been able to provide lately between winning a bunch of games and guys getting healthy again, nothing resonated quite like the reveal that all-world talent Fernando Tatis Jr. was returning to the Padres lineup on Monday. Sure, the Padres have been great without him, but a healthy Tatis Jr. is what could make them a legitimate title contender.

Unfortunately, San Diego fans have had to wait a long time for Tatis Jr. to return from the IL as he was dealing with a particularly stubborn stress reaction in his leg that could have threatened his 2024 season. Tatis Jr. recovered enough quickly enough to return this season, but it was looking spooky there for a little while.

When the Padres took the field on Monday, Padres fans made sure to show their love for him all game long. While he did go 0-for-4 in San Diego's shutout win over the Tigers, Tatis Jr. made sure to let his fans know what their support meant to him.

Fernando Tatis Jr. gave his sincere thanks and appreciation to Padres fans' support during his rehab and return

One can only wonder what was going through Tatis Jr.'s mind when he took the field on Monday. The slugger has certainly made some mistakes in his career and has his detractors as a result, but the guy has had to watch this Padres team thrive while recovering from an uncommon injury that left him with an uncertain timetable.

San Diego made sure to let Tatis Jr. know he was missed and welcomed him back with open arms. Sure, the story would have been better if he had contributed on offense in his first game back, but him returning at all was deeply appreciated by the Friar faithful. Most players would give the rote answers to all of the "how does it feel to be back?" questions, but Tatis Jr. seemed to be genuinely moved by all of the support he received and was truly grateful to be playing baseball again.

It will be fair to watch Tatis Jr. closely over the final month of the season as he likely has a lot of rust to knock off before the playoffs get started. However, it sure seems like Padres fans are going to be cheering him on very loudly regardless of how his campaign ends.

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Eric Cole

Eric Cole

I started my career writing about baseball covering the Atlanta Braves for SB Nation's Talking Chop back in 2015 which has since been renamed Battery Power. After years of writing for those fine folks, I made the decision to take over as Site Expert at House That Hank Built before becoming a full-time MLB Staff Writer for FanSided in 2023. Along the way, I have been a guest on multiple ESPN radio affiliates as well as 680 The Fan and 92.9 The Game to discuss Braves baseball and especially Braves prospects and was a long-time host on the Battery Power podcast. These days, I continue to write about the Braves as well as covering the Astros, Padres, and Angels with particular expertise with minor league coverage, the MLB Draft, and bashing Anthony Rendon when possible. When I am not writing about or talking about baseball (which is seldom), I am an avid baseball card collector (Maddux and Soroka being my primary personal collections) and I also collect shark teeth. All other sports are mostly dead to me as my Bills have broken my heart too many times.