Padres’ Tatis Jr. and Kinsler out for 2019
Mandatory Credit: Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports
San Diego Padres rookie shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr. is likely out for the season.
Kevin Acee of the Union-Tribune just shocked the Padres world with one tweet.
He reports Fernando Tatis Jr. is likely done for the season. It’s still unknown what the exact injury is, just that it is his back.
Tatis ends his season after playing in 84 games but dazzling in everyone. His rookie highlight reel is nothing short of amazing. The Padres are now likely ending the season with one eye on the 2020 season.
Fernando Tatis Jr. is likely done for the season.
— Kevin Acee (@sdutKevinAcee) August 16, 2019
Is Tatis Jr. injury prone?
2019 was cut short by an injury, and this will be his second injury this season. It’s likely too early to put that label on him; he is only 20 years old.
The Padres will likely move Urias to shortstop and give Ty France a chance at second base. France has been hitting .399 in Triple-A El Paso this season and looks to translate that to the big league club.
In other news, Ian Kinsler is also likely some for the year with a neck injury. Kinsler is sitting on 1,999 career hits. His injury made room for the return of Travis Jankowski.
The #Padres placed INF Fernando Tatis Jr. (stress reaction in lower back, retro to 8/14) and INF Ian Kinsler (herniated cervical disc, retro 8/13) on the 10-day IL today and recalled INF Ty France and OF Travis Jankowski from Triple-A El Paso.
— San Diego Padres (@Padres) August 16, 2019
Lifelong Padre fan born and raised in San Diego, currently living in Temecula. The editors make me sound smart.
We all agree Tatis is amazing when he is on the field, but we are not in agreement that he is almost assuredly injury prone (and we can expect people to be upset about mentioning the likelihood that he is injury prone). Yes, small sample size, but it is all we have to go on, and he is so young, yet so frequently injured. Having to leave because of a back injury like that, where there was no discernible impact, injury, etc, makes you wonder about his fragility. However, Steph Curry had something somewhat similar in his early career, but he seemed to overcome that.
The Padres also need to consider that–while immensely talented offensively, and, yes, he makes amazing plays on defense–he is not quite up to par for a SS defensively (at least at this point, going off of his error-rate). 18 errors in about a half of a season!?! This, combined with his propensity to get injured, all things being equal, he may be better suited for 3B (perhaps less of a toll on his body), which, well, for the next 9 years is taken…
OR, they could switch Machado and Tatis defensively, but that comes with some headaches as well.
The good news, we get to see France more, but we won’t get to see if he could hit .400. I believe he is at .399.