At 1:12 p.m. Thursday, Eric Lauer delivered a 90-mph strike to Steven Duggar, a sellout crowd at Petco Park roared and shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr. became the youngest player to see action on Opening Day since Adrián Beltré in 1999.
Half an hour later, Tatis redirected a pitch from Madison Bumgarner for a hard grounder, the ball skipping past third baseman Evan Longoria. With that, he became the youngest player to record a hit in his first plate appearance in a season opener since Ken Griffey Jr. in 1989.
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Beltré is four months past his retirement announcement, now en route to the Hall of Fame. Nearly three years have elapsed since Griffey was enshrined in Cooperstown, just three votes shy of unanimous induction.
Ian Kinsler spent three seasons playing alongside Beltré for the Texas Rangers and two in the same division as Griffey. While small-sample-size extrapolation is baseball’s ultimate folly, the Padres’ veteran, first-year second baseman can offer some perspective when it comes to beginnings.
In Thursday afternoon’s 2-0 shutout of the San Francisco Giants, Kinsler, 36, shared a middle infield with Tatis, 20, and watched him go 2-for-3 with a pair of singles. When Kinsler was 20, he was playing for the University of Missouri “in front of about 3,000 people.”
“He got here extremely quick,” Kinsler said of Tatis. “He deserves it. He’s worked very hard to get here, he’s shown the ability that he can do it and we’re all proud of him and happy that he’s here.
“I just think that he’s in a great position on this club to play the way that he wants to play, compete the way that he knows how to and make adjustments along the way. He’s in a growth position on this team. It’s just fun to watch guys like that grow.”
Although Tatis’ debut was memorable, room for improvement remained apparent. After reaching base the second time, Tatis was picked off and caught stealing. He struck out on four pitches in his final at-bat, when Bumgarner buried an 85 mph cutter inside.
And, against a similar pitch to open his fourth-inning at-bat, he displayed both his athleticism and less-than-flawless technique, laying down a bunt that traveled farther than would have been ideal as he tore down the first-base line.
“He’s capable of doing stuff like that, and he showed it right there,” Kinsler said. “That was, honestly, a bad bunt, and he just made up for it with his speed and beat it out. Longoria is a Gold Glover, one of the best third basemen in the league, and that probably surprised him a little bit. But it wasn’t a great bunt. If it was a great bunt, then there would’ve been no throw. He beat it out with his speed. It was impressive.”
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Tatis’ wheels were one of the reasons the Padres zigged as most of the industry continues to zag with major league-ready super-prospects. Oftentimes, those players have had their introductions delayed just long enough so that their teams can secure an additional year of control. Earlier this week, it came as a surprise when the Padres opted to put Tatis, a five-tool shortstop, on the Opening Day roster. No asset in the organization carries the same amount of potential surplus value.
The Padres’ service time concerns were partially allayed by recent labor trends, which have seen a striking number of young players agree to contract extensions; they plan to raise the idea of a long-term deal with Tatis at some point, if not right away.
They also decided they could not ignore his game-altering ability, even for two weeks. Tatis flaunted both his outsize tools and advanced skills throughout the offseason, when he starred playing alongside veterans in the Dominican Winter League. He continued to provide eyebrow-raising moments in the spring, most notably in a basepath-churning performance last Friday against the Colorado Rockies.
“We understand this is going to be an adjustment with the bat and he’s facing the best pitchers in the world every single night,” Padres general manager A.J. Preller said. “But he has the ability to impact games in a lot of different ways. I think that Friday game was a taste of a guy who one day, even if it’s not four hits that day, it may be stealing a base, it may be going first-to-third, it may be scoring on a single, it might be a great defensive player using his arm. I think when we added that all up, and we had a chance to see that that night, we just felt like it was something that we wanted to give a go.”
Tatis’ embrace of the moment certainly swayed the Padres. Before spring training, team evaluators who traveled to the Dominican witnessed Tatis, still 19 at the time, assume a leadership role through his exuberant play. Well before the Cactus League opened, he did not hesitate to broadcast self-belief. And earlier this week, with his big-league debut mere hours away, one of the best prospects in baseball was spotted on a motorized scooter, soaking in the sights of downtown San Diego.
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“I was excited,” Tatis said. “I don’t think I was nervous. I’m just playing baseball, except I’m playing in front of 40,000 people now. It’s just the same game, and I’m trying to have fun with it.”
It has, of course, been only one game. Cold spells and growing pains loom on the horizon. Yet first impressions cannot be dismissed.
In his own Padres debut, Tatis’ favorite player, Manny Machado, went 0-for-3 with a pair of strikeouts. Afterward, Machado, the recently signed franchise third baseman, insisted that he had not felt undue pressure, that he was savoring the taste of a team victory, that it has been a pleasure to watch the development of a young infield mate.
“It just tells you that he’s trying to win,” Machado said of Tatis’ surprise bunt. “He’s trying to win ballgames. That’s what he’s here for, just go out there and be himself. And nothing fazes him.”
The Padres won their first game of 2019 in large part because left fielder Wil Myers drove in both runs and second-year pitcher Lauer supplied six scoreless innings. Tatis, though, drew the largest crowd in the postgame clubhouse. A potential franchise player had delivered plenty to discuss.
Myers, who drilled a 456-foot solo shot off Bumgarner in the third, once found himself in a similar position, as a top prospect who would become the 2013 American League Rookie of the Year. He made his debut for Tampa Bay at 22, plunging into the thick of a pennant race. The same season, a 20-year-old third baseman hit 51 doubles for Baltimore.
“He reminds me of Manny Machado,” Myers said of Tatis. “They’re the same guy.
“At that age, (Tatis) is the best I’ve seen. Watching his at-bats, he has real at-bats. He’s not one of the young kids who just goes up there and swings. He’s got a clue at the plate. It’s clear that he’s very advanced for his age.”
Thursday seemed to reinforce the notion. Tatis logged two hits in the first three plate appearances of his career. He did not receive an opportunity to field a groundball, though he did show grace in the field, leaving his feet to snag a line drive and tracking down a pop-up in shallow left. He appeared no different than if he were playing on an Arizona backfield, rather than a big-league ballpark that drew an announced crowd of 44,655.
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“I was more nervous in winter ball,” said Tatis, who teamed with his father, Estrellas Orientales manager Fernando Tatis Sr., to capture an elusive championship. “Just trying to break the 51 years (without a title), it was something crazy, and especially for my hometown, the people and all that.”
Tatis Jr. then fielded a question about another bit of chronology. Was he aware that this year is the Padres’ 51st in existence?
“That’s what I heard,” he said. “Let’s try to break this curse now.”
(Top photo of Fernando Tatis Jr.; Denis Poroy / Getty Images)