Can Fernando Tatis Jr.’s World Baseball Classic stardom help launch him and the Padres? – The Athletic

PEORIA, Ariz. — Three months before Fernando Tatis Jr. made his long-awaited debut in the World Baseball Classic, the right fielder hosted a contingent of San Diego Padres officials at his home in the Dominican Republic. For a newly hired hitting coach, it was an introduction to the mercurial star who will again influence the trajectory of an entire franchise.

“I didn’t really know him. You never really know how guys are off the field,” said former big-league outfielder Steven Souza Jr., who joined rookie manager Craig Stammen’s staff in November. “Very thoughtful human being. Really smart baseball player. Understands the game, understands what goes wrong, what goes right, how to get better.

“I think he cares deeply. You know, you don’t maybe see all the work he puts in off the field, but he wants to be really good. I think that’s what I got (from the visit). He wants to be really good, and he knows the things that it takes to be really good, and he’s showing that right now.”

Souza was speaking Thursday at the Peoria Sports Complex, where the Padres have spent the past week tracking the exploits of Tatis and third baseman Manny Machado from afar. Wednesday night in Miami, the duo helped a loaded Dominican Republic club surge into the World Baseball Classic quarterfinals. Tatis punctuated a win over Team Venezuela with a resounding home run and an epic bat flip.

His tournament line: six hits in 13 at-bats, two home runs, nine RBIs.

“I actually got off the phone with him, like, an hour ago,” Souza said. “I just told him how impressed I was, how much fun it looks like he’s having. … And that’s what I want for him. I want him to come to the park every day and just enjoy coming here, because when Tati’s enjoying what he’s doing, A, he’s an unbelievable person to be around. And then, B, he’s electric on the field.”

The Padres are aware that Tatis sustaining his current level is unrealistic, at least throughout a 162-game marathon. The WBC is a sprint by comparison, a boisterous display of national pride, a showcase largely waged against inferior pitching.

Yet, after a 2025 season in which Tatis fell short of lofty expectations, the Padres are focusing on the positives.

“The at-bat quality has been off the charts,” Souza said. “He’s taking his walks. He’s hitting hanging sliders. He’s hitting 98 (mph pitches). He’s just covering a bunch of different pitches. His (swing) path is really good.”

“Hitting is hard no matter who you’re facing, so to see him with the energy that he’s bringing to the plate, the swings that he’s taking, we feel really good with where he’s at right now,” Stammen said.

He added, laughing: “My only message to him is to save a few for the season.”

For the outfielder and those around him, Tatis left plenty on the table last year. He made his third All-Star Game, collected his second Platinum Glove and recorded the kind of underlying metrics that suggested he remained among the game’s most talented hitters. He also finished with 25 home runs and an .814 OPS, both numbers well off his pre-steroid-suspension peak.

Now, the 27-year-old is under the tutelage of a former opponent not far removed from his own playing career.

“He’s really good at learning. I think he learned a lot last year about what he can do,” Souza, 36, said. “He definitely learned how to control the strike zone, because his walk rate jumped through the roof. And I think it’s just combining how he does that with the things he’s done in the past. So far, from the time that I saw him in the DR to these last couple games in the WBC, it’s been unbelievably consistent.”

Fernando Tatis Jr. hits a grand slam for the Dominican Republic against Israel in Miami. (Carmen Mandato / Getty Images)

Notably, Tatis has returned to a squarer batting stance. Last season, he experimented with the most open setup of his career. It seemed to work at first; Tatis belted eight home runs with a 1.011 OPS before May.

Then, for most of the summer, he struggled amid constant tinkering. He lamented an inability to consistently put the ball in the air. His barrel rate sank to a career low.

“He just felt like he was trying to search for different things at times,” Souza said. “I think on top of that, last year was, like, his ability to just compete in the game and figure out a way to be productive when he wasn’t feeling good. So, in the offseason, (the focus) was just staying inside the ball, direction to center field.

“He’s got lightning hands. His hips move at an unbelievable speed. So, it’s just about making sure his path is direct to the ball and his direction is working to center field, and then just letting his talent make up for the rest of it.”

Souza is familiar with the challenges of producing against modern pitching. A former top prospect, he hit .229 with a .729 OPS over parts of eight seasons with six big-league clubs. He retired less than four years ago. He impressed people throughout the industry last season while working for the Tampa Bay Rays as a special adviser for pro scouting and hitting research.

Still, in the fickle world of hitting instruction, there is no guarantee Souza will last. Over the past five seasons, the Padres have employed four lead hitting coaches. Souza, at least, can bring a fresh perspective.

“I just thought that there was just some small things that you could do to just make him consistent, because he has these stretches,” Souza said of Tatis. “He had them even last year, earlier in the year, where he’s otherworldly, and that’s who he is. And so it’s just about honing in the misses and, I think, giving him a template of where he needs to be day in and day out, instead of veering so far off.

“When he closes off his front side, he’s able to stay through the ball a lot better instead of pulling off. But Tati’s like an artist, and I don’t want to limit him to the creativity that he has in the box, because that’s what makes him really good. And so if he comes one day and he’s like, ‘I need to stand open,’ and he’s got a reason, and we can have a discussion because he’s a very intelligent human being — I’m all for it.

“We’re coming alongside him as a staff to say, like, ‘Why are you doing this? Is there a reason? Does that make sense? Here’s some ideas. You know, the idea you’ve got is really good.’ And allowing that freedom and just be kind of a sounding board so we can keep in the right direction constantly.”

Friday, Tatis and Machado will face South Korea in the WBC quarterfinals. Team Dominican Republic, based on its dominance in pool play, is a popular pick to advance all the way to the championship game. Such an outcome would have San Diego’s stars back in spring training no sooner than Wednesday, with the season opener against the Detroit Tigers barely a week away.

In the meantime, the Padres will continue watching each of their at-bats from afar.

“I don’t think it’s so much of being able to sustain that energy (after the WBC). That’s going to be impossible, right? Like, it’s a playoff tournament,” Souza said. “It’s more just, is the routine the same? We’re not going to worry about the results, because we know that when the lights turn on, those guys are going to show up. It’s just about making sure the process, the routine is the same, and making sure the at-bat quality just continues as they go into the season.”