SAN DIEGO -- Just when you think he couldn’t possibly top himself -- Fernando Tatis Jr. has done it again.
The Padres’ superstar right fielder is making the spectacular look routine.
How routine? Well, in the fourth inning of the Padres’ 4-2 loss to the Reds on Tuesday night, Tatis leaped to rob Tyler Stephenson of a home run at the right-field wall. It marked the fourth time in the past 27 games at Petco Park that Tatis has taken a home run away from an opposing hitter.
He thinks this one might’ve been his best.
Even by his own lofty standards, it was sensational. Stephenson’s fly ball was hit hard, on a line, forcing Tatis to retreat quickly to the wall. In one motion, he leapt, kicked his right leg into the wall for leverage and reached his left arm over the wall to make the catch.
“It was a quicker one, so I needed to get to the wall quicker,” Tatis said. “Really just, last second ... get to the wall and jump. Kind of muscle memory where I thought the ball was going to be. Good luck for me, it was there.”
Tatis nearly doubled up Gavin Lux at first base, as well. When Lux slid safely into first base, Tatis took his glove off his hand and rested it on top of his hat as Petco Park erupted around him.
A few hours later, he was asked where this ranked among his slew of robberies.
“I really liked that one,” Tatis said. “It probably was quicker than the other ones, and I had less time than the other ones. It’s probably No. 1.”
Tatis, of course, has been one of the best outfielders in baseball since he made the full-time transition to right field before the 2023 season. He took home the Platinum Glove Award that season as the National League’s best defender at any position and seems destined at least for Gold this year.
Manager Mike Shildt thinks it should be Platinum again. Shildt was quick to note a separate play in the sixth inning in which Reds shortstop Elly De La Cruz laced a line drive to the right-center-field gap. Tatis slid to cut it off on a hop and fired back to the infield, keeping De La Cruz to a single on what looked like a certain double.
In Shildt’s eyes, the flashy plays plus the little things can only add up to one end result for Tatis:
“If that’s not Platinum-quality Gold Glove, I don’t know what is,” Shildt said.
Tatis’ spree of home run robberies began with a July 8 catch to take one away from then-Diamondbacks slugger Josh Naylor. He took another back from the Mets’ Mark Vientos on July 28, before robbing the Giants’ Rafael Devers on Aug. 20.
It’s a truly remarkable run, considering the right-field wall at Petco Park isn’t exactly short or historically prone to home-run robberies. (Although, earlier in Tuesday’s game, Will Benson took away extra bases from Jose Iglesias with a catch at the wall in right, before a ferocious collision. Benson remained in the game after he was evaluated on the field by the Reds’ training staff.)
Two innings later, it was Tatis’ turn to play spoiler. He has a knack for it, like perhaps no other outfielder in recent memory -- a modern Ken Griffey Jr.
Stephenson, however, would get the last laugh, launching a game-winning two-run homer to the Western Metal Building in left field in the ninth inning. Evidently he learned his lesson: If you want to hit a homer against the Padres at Petco Park, it’s probably a good idea to avoid the first row in right field. That’s Tatis’ territory.