Fernando Tatis Jr. has yet to find his power stroke, and that hasn't been all bad

ANAHEIM - It is preposterous how well Fernando Tatis Jr. is hitting the ball, how bad his results are and how well he is handling it.

All together, those things are actually encouraging.

Tatis on Friday night had his first game all season in which he did not hit a ball off his bat at least 95 mph. It was just the second game of the 20 he has played in which he didn't hit one ball at least 100 mph and the eighth game in which he didn't hit one at least 105 mph.

"It’s wild, honestly. I go home and I think about it," hitting coach Steven Souza Jr. said. "I mean, it’s only a matter of time they come in bunches, and he hits the ball so hard. … It's missiles. Watching him this year, it’s like he should be hitting .380."

Tatis is not scorching the grass. His groundball rate is about the same as always. His line drive rate is significantly higher than in any previous season. His fly ball rate is down nearly seven percentage points from his career average.

His 41% launch-angle sweet-spot percentage (how often a batter puts balls in play with a launch angle between 8 and 32 degrees, which maximizes the potential for a hit) is eight points higher than in 2021, when he led the National League with 42 home runs.

Yet he is batting .239 with a .296 slugging percentage. The latter number is 193 points lower than his previous low 20 games into a season.

Oh, and Tatis entered Saturday's game against the Angels without a single home run this season.

He had never in any of his previous six seasons gone more than five games at the start of a season without hitting a ball over the wall.

No one can downplay the importance of Tatis hitting home runs. But the Padres see a lot of positives in the way he has reacted to his power outage.

He has not changed his approach or expanded his strike zone.

He is for the most part keeping his body and his hands where they should be. He is not trying to pull pitches he should not. He is waiting on the ball. He is not chasing.

"He’s a baseball player, and I think that’s the way he likes to play the game," Souza said. "He's taking his walks. He’s hitting the ball all over the park. He’s hitting missiles to right. He’s hitting lasers. It’s just a matter of time before it’s consistently getting it a little bit more up in the air, and they go."

If that does happen - and it eventually practically has to - this might prove to have served as a beneficial period for Tatis and the Padres.

Because he seems happy. He remains highly engaged. He has not let his obvious frustration fester and become a self-fulfilling perpetuation.

One of the priorities for new manager Craig Stammen and others in the organization this offseason was impressing on Tatis the importance of his countenance and the energy he brings. He is an emotional player, and that has over the years had a positive and negative impact on his play and the vibe of the team.

There have been at least three instances this season where Tatis' frustration was clearly evident after he smoked a ball that was caught or fell short of the wall. But it was just as clear that he instantly rebounded.

"You have to get pissed off," he said. "But you just learn through the years. And the team is playing good, so when that’s happening, that really helps a lot. You always want more. But it’s a good team playing baseball out there, so we've got to stick together. I learned a lot through the years."

That seems clear as well.

"He’s just fun to be around," Souza said. "He’s infectious. He is probably one of my favorite players to just be around. He’s just got such a joyful personality. And you can see it's not going like a perfect script, how you want with all these hard hits, and it’s easy to get frustrated. But I think you’re seeing the maturity of him. He’s been in this league a while. He knows if I just keep hitting it hard, they’re gonna go."

Copyright 2026 Tribune Content Agency. All Rights Reserved.

This story was originally published April 18, 2026 at 7:03 PM.