SAN DIEGO (AP) — Electrifying shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr. of the San Diego Padres was placed on the 10-day injured list Saturday, a day after partially dislocating his left shoulder for the third time this season.
The Padres announced the move prior to their game against the Colorado Rockies. They also placed right-hander Chris Paddack on the IL with an oblique injury.
Tatis, the NL's starting shortstop in the All-Star game, was injured Friday night while sliding awkwardly into third base in the first inning against the Rockies. He was in pain as he was led off the field by manager Jayce Tingler and a trainer.
Tingler said after Saturday night's 5-3 loss that Tatis will be re-evaluated in 10 days and if he hasn't made enough progress, season-ending surgery “would be on the table."
Before the game, Tingler said Tatis was “a little bit more sore than maybe some of them we've had in the past."
The Padres, who are in third place in the NL West and in control of the second wild-card spot, are keeping their fingers crossed that their superstar will be back in 10 days.
Tatis leads the NL with 31 home runs and 23 stolen bases. He's hitting .292 with 70 RBIs.
His left shoulder has become a concern. He's injured the joint while swinging his bat, diving for a grounder and sliding. Two of those three injuries have landed him on the IL.
The Padres said Tatis had an MRI Saturday morning and has instability and inflammation in his left shoulder.
“We were under the very realistic possibility that once it comes out and goes back in, there’s a very good chance that could repeat and continue to happen," Tingler said. “We certainly understand the risk and with the understanding that certainly with the slide yesterday, he just ended up in an awkward position like that, there was a chance of that possibly happening."
On Friday night, Tatis singled and advanced on Manny Machado’s sharp grounder to third baseman Ryan McMahon, who came up with the ball but then had it pop out of his glove and roll behind him into short left field. Tatis made a dash for third but shortstop Brendan Rodgers ran toward third, took the throw from McMahon and tagged out the sliding Tatis.
Tatis slid into the bag, landing hard on his left shoulder and crumbling in pain a few feet away, bringing a hush over Petco Park. Tingler and a trainer helped Tatis off the field as he winced in pain, holding his left arm. The trainer was holding Tatis’ upper arm/shoulder.
Tatis suffered a partially dislocated left shoulder on a violent swing April 5 against San Francisco and went on the 10-day injured list. He reinjured the shoulder diving for a ball and left a game against Cincinnati on June 19 but missed only one game.
The 22-year-old Tatis left a spring training game after hurting the shoulder while making a throw but was back two days later. He revealed then that he had been dealing with shoulder discomfort since his minor league days.
Tatis also missed eight games in mid-May after testing positive for COVID-19.
Tatis has wowed fans with his tape-measure home runs and bat flips, daring baserunning and aggressive plays at shortstop, although he leads the majors with 20 errors.
The Padres have worked with him to get him to cut down on his headfirst slides. His slide Friday night was feet first.
He became the first Padres player voted to start an All-Star Game since Tony Gwynn in 1999.
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