Padres’ Craig Stammen makes painful Fernando Tatis Jr. confession amid unprecedented slump

The San Diego Padres are in second place in the National League West and only trail the back-to-back World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers by 1.5 games. The team’s success hasn’t come in the ways that fans would have guessed coming into the season. While the bullpen has been historically good, the team’s starting pitchers have been a little underwhelming. Even worse, the team’s bats have been ice-cold for much of the season.

Fernando Tatis Jr., in particular, is in the midst of the worst slump of his career. The Dominican has three All-Star appearances, two Silver Slugger awards, and two Gold Gloves to his name. However, the outfielder is batting just .239 this season, and he has yet to hit his first home run of the year. Manager Craig Stammen spoke on the struggles of slumping, and specifically their game plan with Tatis going forward.

“It’s natural for anyone to press when they are trying to get out of a slump,” Stammen said. “I think we are seeing that from a couple of guys, and you know [with] early swings, and swinging at a lot of things that they don’t normally swing at. It’s tough. This game is a mentally tough game.”

“It’s probably the biggest struggle he’s had in his major league career.”
Craig Stammen discussed Fernando Tatís’ approach at the plate. @FriarTerritory pic.twitter.com/CKc9Rl44Sl

— Marty Caswell (@MartyCaswell) May 21, 2026

“It’s up to us coaches to talk to Fernando and be able to pat him on the back and try to teach patience to him to help him get through this struggle,” Stammen continued. “[It’s] probably the biggest struggle that he has had in his major league career.”

The Padres desperately need Tatis and the rest of the struggling batters to get on track if they are to continue winning. Their late-game domination isn’t sustainable, but luckily, nobody would be surprised if Tatis heated up sooner rather than later.

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