Fernando Tatis Jr. arrived in Arizona this week and was not long in receiving good news.
On Tuesday, the Padres shortstop met with the surgeon who operated on him on March 16 to repair a broken bone in his left wrist. San Diego Ninth manager Bob Melvin said Tatis had been given the go-ahead to “step up what he’s doing on the defensive end.”
The star was with the Padres prior to the start of the series against the D-backs at Chase Field.
“I know he’s excited about the fact that he’s going to be on the field with us, with no restrictions on hitting ground balls, taking shots and all that,” Melvin said. “Batting will be the last thing.”
After meeting with his surgeon, Tatis wasted no time in joining the team on the pitch. He was present at batting practice to field ground balls and participate in defensive drills. Previously, he’s made saves, fielded ground balls hit directly at him, took a few blank swings and even hit off a tee and practice bat.
Tatis isn’t swinging the bat at full speed yet, but he’s expected to be in about two weeks. At that point, he’ll have to go through a hitting sequence and play minor league games as part of his rehab.
So it doesn’t look like Tatis will be back in action until after the All-Star Game, possibly late July or early August, depending on how things pan out when he starts hitting. Melvin doesn’t have a set date and won’t until Tatis gets to that point in his recovery.
“It depends on what the settings are before I start playing games. And then how does he feel during the rehab process,” Melvin said. “We definitely want him to come back when he feels good about the way he’s hitting. More days with us is probably better than fewer days. But he doesn’t have spring training, so it’s going to be a day-to-day process, although probably once he starts (hitting), we’ll probably have him planning and going by how he feels.”
