What happened to Fernando Tatis Jr? Padres star exits game vs Giants with shoulder injury

On Monday, San Diego Padres star shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr. hurt himself after taking a hard swing at an Anthony DeSclafani curveball and the 22-year-old crumpled to the dirt in agony. The Dominican cradled his left arm while he got up, and an athletic trainer helped hold his arm against his body as Tatis walked off the Petco Park field. The Padres eventually fell to a 3-2 defeat against the San Francisco Giants in the first of their three-game series. Here is more on 'What happened to Fernando Tatis Jr.?'

What happened to Fernando Tatis Jr? Padres star leaves game vs Giants after taking a hard swing

In the third inning of the game, Tatis struck out swinging against Anthony DeSclafani and winced in pain as he fell to the ground. He was then helped up by Padres manager Jayce Tingler and a team athletic trainer as Tatis held his arm close to his body. Tatis then walked off the pitch and played no further part in the game on Monday as the Padres slumped to their second defeat of the campaign. 

Fernando Tatis Jr injury update: Dominican shortstop suffers shoulder injury

The Padres confirmed as part of the Fernando Tatis Jr injury update later on Monday that Tatis suffered a left shoulder subluxation when he struck out against Anthony DeSclafani in the third inning of the game. Following the defeat for the Padres, which left them second in the NL West MLB standings, Tingler spoke on Tatis' injury and said, “It's going to be really hard to speculate without getting the MRI and getting all those things the doctors need to look at and make a call." Earlier in March, Tatis was suffering from soreness in his left shoulder and he exited a Spring Training game because of the issue.

Fernando Tatis Jr injury news: When will the Padres star return to action? 

The Padres have not put a timetable on Tatis’ recovery from his shoulder injury, and the team said he would undergo an MRI and be re-evaluated later on Tuesday. However, the San Diego faithful have been concerned over their star man as any major injury to Tatis would be crushing for a Padres team with World Series ambitions. Prior to the 2021 season, Tatís signed a 14-year, $340 million contract extension with the Padres.

This was on the back of two phenomenal seasons with the Padres. In his debut campaign, Padres batted .286 with 16 home runs, 43 RBI, and 16 stolen bases. He followed that up hitting .317/.379/.590 with 22 home runs, 61 runs, and 106 hits over 84 games in the next season. 

Image Credits - AP