Fernando Gabriel Tatís Medina (born January 2, 1999), nicknamed “El Niño” and Bebo, is a Dominican professional baseballshortstop who plays for the San Diego Padres of Major League Baseball (MLB). He made his MLB debut in 2019. Before the 2021 season, Tatís signed a 14-year, $340 million contract extension with the Padres.
Career
Minor leagues
The Chicago White Sox signed Tatís as an international free agent from the Dominican Prospect League in 2015. On June 4, 2016, before he had played a professional game, the White Sox traded Tatís, then 17 years old, and Erik Johnson to the Padres for James Shields. Tatís spent 2016 with the Arizona Padres of the Rookie-level Arizona League and the Tri-City Dust Devils of the Class A-Short Season Northwest League, batting a combined .273 with four home runs and 25 runs batted in (RBI) in 55 games; on defense, he made 15 errors and had a .904 fielding percentage.
Tatís with the Fort Wayne TinCapsin 2017
In 2017, Tatís played 117 games for the Fort Wayne TinCaps Class A Midwest League and 14 games for the San Antonio Missions of the Class AA Texas League, posting a combined .278 batting average with 22 home runs, 75 RBI, and 32 stolen bases as he was caught 15 times, and on defense he made 30 errors and had a .936 fielding percentage. In 2017–18, he played 17 games at shortstop for the Estrellas de Oriente of the Dominican Winter League, batting .246 with one home run and three RBI.
Tatís entered 2018 as one of the top prospects in the minor leagues. He returned to play shortstop for San Antonio, and in 88 games he batted .286 with 16 home runs, 43 RBI, and 16 stolen bases. On July 23, 2018, Tatís underwent season-ending surgery for a broken left thumb and ligament damage suffered during a head-first slide. He returned to play for the Estrellas for the 2018–19 winter season.
San Diego Padres
2019 season
At the beginning of 2019, Tatís was ranked as one of the top three prospects in baseball by MLB Pipeline, ESPN, Baseball America, and Baseball Prospectus. On March 26, 2019, the Padres announced that Tatís made their Opening Day roster. In his major league debut, he recorded two hits. On April 1, 2019, Tatís hit his first major league home run.
In August, Tatís injured his back, which ended his 2019 season. He finished the season hitting .317/.379/.590 with 22 home runs, 61 runs, and 106 hits over 84 games. He came in third place in balloting for the National League Rookie of the Year Award, behind Pete Alonso and Mike Soroka.
2020 season
In the 2020 season, Tatís was part of a four-game streak in August in which the San Diego Padres hit four grand slams, and, notably, was at each base position over the four.There was a controversy involving Tatis when he swung at a 3-0 pitch in the eighth inning, hitting an opposite-field grand slam against the Texas Rangers. Though he was criticized by some for breaking the “unwritten rules”, since the Padres were already up by seven runs, many people defended him.
In 2020, Tatis led the NL in power-speed number (13.4) and batted .277/.366/.571 (10th in the league) with 50 runs (2nd), 17 home runs (2nd), 42 RBI (4th), and 11 stolen bases (4th) in 224 at bats. Of all major league hitters, he had the highest average exit velocity (95.9 MPH), percentage of hard-hit balls (62.2), and percentage of barrels/plate appearance (12.5%).
In Game 2 of the 2020 Wild Card Series against the St. Louis Cardinals, Tatís was able help the bring the Padres back into winning position by hitting two home runs that made it possible for the Padres to win the series and head to the next round against the Dodgers, which they lost in three straight games.
Tatís finished in fourth place for the National League MVP Award in 2020, behind Freddie Freeman, Mookie Betts, and his teammate Manny Machado.
2021 season
Prior to the 2021 season, Tatis signed a 14-year, $340 million contract extension with the Padres, at the time the third-richest in MLB history behind deals signed by Mike Trout and Mookie Betts, and the richest signed by a player not yet eligible for salary arbitration. Part of Tatis’ future earnings will be given to Big League Advance as part of an agreement that Tatis made while in the minor leagues in order to receive early money that he used to “afford a personal trainer, higher quality food and better housing.”
Personal life
Tatís’ father, Fernando Sr., played third base in the major leagues from 1997 to 2010. His mother is named Maria. His younger brother, Elijah, is an infielder in the Chicago White Sox organization, signed in 2019. He is the cover athlete of MLB The Show 21, and at age 22 is the youngest player to be featured as the cover star.