San Diego Padres star Fernando Tatis Jr. raring to start comeback season after drug suspension
Fernando Tatis Jr. debuted his MLB career in 2019 and created a buzz around the MLB community. Many believed that the shortstop would become significant in the future.
Tatis, on the other hand, was suspended for 80 games after testing positive for Clostebol, a performance-enhancing drug. This ensured that the San Diego Padres star would be suspended for the entire 2022 season.
Tatis will miss the first 20 games of the 2023 season due to his 80-game suspension. But he will be back with the Padres after his suspension is over. In an interview with 97.3 The Fan, a San Diego radio station, Padre shared his thoughts about returning.
Fernando Tatis Jr. on preparing for his first Spring Training game: “I’m definitely ready to be out there.” https://t.co/3WMGhawJRK
When asked what Tatis would need to feel to get ready for the upcoming season. The Padres star said the following:
"I am ready, I am just checking boxes for my manager and for my team. But I am definitely ready to be out there".
Tatis added this when asked about how difficult it was for him to watch the game without being present there:
"At the end of the day, everybody is just trying to do what's best for me. And obviously, I need to listen to my team. To people ahead of me and see what's the best plan for everybody".
Tatis made the above statement in reference to his inability to participate and how he was listening to others superior to him because he trusted their judgment.
Fernando Tatis Jr. would not only play immediately following his suspension but also for the first time following surgery. Tatis had surgery on his left shoulder shortly after his suspension was announced. He also chose to have treatment for a fractured scaphoid bone in his left wrist.
Fernando Tatis Jr. talks about how much he wants to get back into the field
In the same interview with 97.3 The Fan radio station, Fernando Tatis Jr. was asked a lot of questions. One of them was how hard it was for him to watch the team play without him.
The player replied by saying that he did watch the Padres but watched the stream really fast. The shortstop felt that baseball has never been a time-sensitive game in the long term.
He said this when the interviewer asked him how badly he wanted to get back to the game:
"I just want to get back there. I miss the game so much I haven't been to the field in a very long time"
Fernando Tatis Jr. added:
"And I just want to be out there with the boys. You know how the lineup 1-5 and 1-9, I just want to be a part of that"
Fernando Tatis Jr talkin set-up, approach & hands. #TalkinBaseball twitter.com/i/web/status/1… https://t.co/rDvNLdXcdl
The star will soon be returning to the field, but he will be starting slow and mostly playing for the outfield.
According to Bob Melvin, the San Diego Padres manager, Tatis will be starting in the outfield and there will be less on his plate as this game will be his first after his surgeries.