Fernando Tatis Jr. is one of the budding faces of baseball as an electric and unquestioned superstar at only 23 years old. That said, he appears to be losing the San Diego Padres clubhouse for his continual acts of immaturity.
Tatis was suspended 80 games on Friday for performance-enhancing drug use while attempting to recover from a wrist fracture that has held him out all season. The wrist injury by the way was caused by a motorcycle accident. When asked by reporters if the wrist fracture was due to a motorcycle accident, he responded by saying “Which one?”
His reckless and immature acts have hampered the Padres all year, and his teammates know how much better they would be if he could stay out of trouble and get back in the lineup on a nightly basis. His teammates are starting to speak out publicly about their frustration.
“It’s the second time we’ve been disappointed with him, and you hope he grows up and learns from this and learns that it’s about more than just him right now,” pitcher Mike Clevinger told reporters, as transcribed by The Athletic’s Dennis Lin on Friday.
He was not the only pitcher to share his frustration.
“He’s a young kid,” Joe Musgrove told Lin. “He’s going to learn his lessons or whatnot. But ultimately, I think you got to start showing a little bit of remorse and you got to start showing us that you’re committed to it and you want to be here.”
Tatis’ teammates deciding to not hold back while talking to the media speaks volumes of how frustrated they are with him. The 23-year-old has shown instances of immaturity since his call up to Major League Baseball and has yet to learn from his mistakes.
