Padres’ Fernando Tatis Jr. drops ‘baseball gods’ admission on early season slump

San Diego Padres star Fernando Tatis Jr. has endured a difficult start to the 2026 MLB season. He is hitting just .204/.293/.265 across 13 games played. He has yet to hit a home run as well. Tatis recently commented on his performance, via Marty Caswell.

“Obviously we want better numbers or whatever, but I’ve been playing some good baseball, playing defense,” Tatis said. “Offense, hitting the ball hard to every part of the field, but looks like the baseball gods are really mad at me right now. It’s alright, I’ll take it. We’ve got five more months of baseball. I’m ready for it, I’m really prepared and I have all the confidence in the world that it’s going to turn around.”

Expectations were high for Tatis heading into the 2026 season. Some analysts even said Tatis could make an MVP run. It is still extremely early in the 2026 campaign, so there is no reason to panic yet. Tatis will likely find his footing soon.

The underlying numbers suggest the baseball gods might actually be upset with Tatis.

The Padres star is in the 99th percentile for hard-hit percentage so far this season. He is also in the 90th percentile for average exit velocity. Tatis’ fly ball rate currently sits below 17 percent, however. He’s never recorded a mark of below 23.2 percent in his career.

If Tatis can begin elevating the baseball on a more consistent basis, he will find better results. He is certainly hitting the ball hard enough to find success. There is unquestionably reason to believe that Fernando Tatis Jr. will turn things around.

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