Fernando

Tatis Jr.

Tatis drove in Samad Taylor with a fourth-inning single that put San Diego up 5-2. It was his second three-hit performance of the series against Washington. He has surely rebounded from a miserable start to his 2026 campaign. Tatis has already tied his career high of 32 stolen bases while adding eligibility at fantasy’s weakest position. Wednesday was Tatis’ 43rd start at second base this season. While he secured that eligibility for 2027 long ago, it’ll be fascinating to see if this sticks next year and beyond.

It’s not hyperbolic to suggest that Tatis has been one of the more impactful hitters in the fantasy landscape during the second half, batting .296 (55-for-186) with 15 home runs and nine steals in 47 games since the All-Star break. The dynamic 27-year-old outfielder has already notched his fourth 20-homer, 20-steal campaign in the last five seasons and will establish a new career-high mark in the stolen base department on his next theft.

Both were solo shots. The second came off Emilio Pagán in the ninth, but the Padres were down by two at the time and still lost by one. It’s Tatis’s 16th career two-homer game. Three of those have come in the last 15 days, though Tatis had been in a little bit of a slump since the last one; he was 4-for-31 with no RBI and no walks in his previous seven games.

A monster game for Tatis, who also singled twice and drove in four runs in the blowout victory. After struggling — struggling is an understatement — to get the power going, the 27-year-old now has 17 homers on the season, and nine of those have come in August. The steal was his 29th, and Tatis now has an OPS of .814 on the year. These are all impressive numbers, but more impressive when you remember his scuffles to begin 2026.

Tatis doubled and singled twice while also driving in a run. He’s forged a .988 OPS in August, but the hits haven’t been falling quite as often as you might expect with a .242 average in that timeframe coming into Friday. That appears to be changing over the last week or so, as Tatis has picked up multiple hits in three of his last five contests.

Tatis hit a 452-foot homer off Zac Thornton on the very first pitch of the game, went over the wall in right to take away a slam from Lindor in the second and then added a 379-foot, two-run homer in the fifth. It’s rather absurd now to remember how Tatis went the first 55 games of the year without a homer. He has 15 in 70 games since.

It appears to just be a rare day of rest for Tatis. The 27-year-old will sit for the series finale against the Brew Crew, and Austin Hays will handle right field and hit sixth in his absence.

The homer was his 164th, overtaking Nate Colbert’s total that long stood as the Padres’ franchise record before Manny Machado broke it two years ago. Machado is now at 217 in his eighth year with the Padres, and with both signed well into the next decade, Tatis seems destined to remain in second place for the next several seasons.

After grounding out in his first at-bat, Tatis only barely missed in his second, hitting a 359-foot flyout. After that came the 421-foot homer and 386-foot double. He has three homers in five games. Since finally delivering his first homer on May 30, he’s hit .294/.347/.506 with 11 homers in 62 games.

Tatis has two homers and two doubles in his last four games. He now has 10 homers in 60 games after going without one in his first 55.