Tatis Rebuilt His Swing By Going Back To His Past

San Diego Padres outfielder Fernando Tatis Jr. endured an horrendous stretch in which he lost his power stroke, and the work he did was a lot like feeling around in the dark for something he’d lost. But Tatis did have a touchstone of sorts, as it took him back to his minor league days when he was a 19-year old minor league shortstop in the Texas League who looked overmatched. 

The answer wasn’t as simple as pulling the ball in the air, which is the way Tatis’ struggles have been presented in many accounts. Padres hitting coach Steve Souza Jr. said the work was really about cleaning up his direction and bat path to allow his natural talent take over, according to a piece from Dennis Lin of The Athletic. 

“When you’re trying to pull a fastball, you’re basically eliminating anything off-speed on the outer half of the plate, which he was getting a lot of,” said Souza.

The work also involved going back to 2024 and raising Tatis’s hands to create a swing path Souza described as  “underneath and through to center field.”

“If you go back and look at his best years, this is something he was already doing,” Souza said. “He just kind of got away from it, which happens with anybody.”

That adjustment led to a rise in Tatis’ exit velocity that was noteworthy. One of the outfielder’s many gifts is that he doesn’t really do soft contact, unlike most hitters. 

“I’m always going to hit the ball hard,” Tatis said. “It doesn’t matter how I hit, you know? It’s just a gift that God gave me. But how to find the results and use the right thing to get better and evolve as a hitter, that’s the biggest part.”

There’s also a confidence aspect to this, as first baseman Ty France noted, and it’s something he’s seen since he played with Tatis in Double-A. 

“When he believes that he’s one of the best players in the game,” France said, “he goes out and plays like it.”

It took a long time for Tatis to rebuild his confidence to that level, and just as long for his home run stroke to return. There’s a paradoxical element to this, as Padres manager Craig Stammen noted. 

“He talks about this a lot,” Padres manager and former teammate Craig Stammen said. “It’s like when he decided he didn’t want to be a home run hitter, he wants to be a baseball player. That unlocked who he really is, his true identity as a baseball player.”

We already knew how good Tatis was in that regard, but the outfielder has taken that to a new level. He’s played second base this season, and Tatis has also had stretches were he’s been one of the best leadoff hitters in the game, with or without power. 

“When my head is right, and my body is working in sync with that, I definitely feel that way,” Tatis said of his belief he remains among baseball’s elite. “I can change the game in every aspect.”