Tatis Nominated For Two Silver Slugger Awards

One of the most thought-provoking (head-scratching?) decisions made by any team during the recently completed 2026 MLB season came when the San Diego Padres announced in early April that rightfielder Fernando Tatis Jr. would begin playing more games at second base.

Sure, he played the first three years of his career in the infield at shortstop, but since moving to the outfield in 2023, he had accumulated a pair each of All-Star Game appearances and Gold Glove Awards.

But as it turns out, Tatis' occasional move to the dirt might have just been a clever ploy to double his chances of winning a Silver Slugger Award.

That assumption gained credence on Thursday when MLB released the list of 2026 Silver Slugger finalists in the American and National Leagues and Tatis saw his name revealed twice, in the outfield (natch) and at the utility position (a-ha!).

In retrospect, while it may have seemed odd at first, Tatis did compile a .979 fielding percentage in his 53 appearances (50 starts) at second, which was a bit below the MLB average of .987 for second baseman. He did have 115 assists and 71 putouts and helped turn 19 double plays.

While Tatis' defensive numbers at second were solid, at its heart the Silver Slugger, which has been awarded annually since 1980 to the best hitter at each position in both leagues based on voting by MLB managers and coaches (who aren't allowed to vote for their own players), is handed out based on what players do while in the batter's box.

In that realm, Tatis, after a slow first two months that saw him hit zero home runs, definitely measured up against the NL's best offensively in 2026. And, after all, Tatis is a previous Sliver Slugger winner when he was playing shortstop in 2020 and 2021.

After sitting at a .268 average and .652 OPS with six doubles, 17 RBIs and 51 strikeouts in 205 at-bats for a 24.9% strikeout rate on May 29 - the day before he hit his first HR - Tatis went on an absolute tear over the season's final four months.

That enabled him to finish with a Silver Slugger-worthy line of .289 (just seven hits short of a .300 season) with a robust .828 OPS, 25 doubles, 25 HRs, 83 RBIs and a strikeout rate that had shrunk to 20.8%. That performance also earned him a spot on the Bleacher Report All-MLB Team.

Tatis' competition for the outfield award - three of whom will be chosen - is Corbin Carroll, Jackson Chourio, Pete Crow-Armstrong, Seiya Suzuki, Jordan Walker and James Wood. In the utility category, he's squaring off against Jake Bauers and Sal Stewart.

In Tatis wins one Silver Slugger, it will tie him with Manny Machado for third-most in Padres' history with three; if he bags both honors, he will move into a tie for second with four Silver Sluggers with catcher Benito Santiago. Tony Gwynn tops the Padres' all-time Silver Slugger list with seven honors from 1984-97.

The Silver Slugger winners will be announced on Tuesday, Nov. 10.