Padres' Fernando Tatis Jr. confident ahead of first game since '21

PHOENIX — It has been 564 days since Fernando Tatis Jr. last graced a baseball field in a major league game with actual stakes. There are obvious concerns — given the season-long absence, the steroid-related suspension, the surgeries to both his wrist and shoulder — about whether he can recapture the superstar level he previously displayed.

Not from Tatis, apparently.

Moments before he would make his highly anticipated debut on Thursday night, the San Diego Padres' shortstop-turned-outfielder was asked about his level of confidence in getting back to who he was. Tatis laughed.

«110%,» he said.

Tatis, 24, was inserted into the leadoff spot for the Padres' series opener against the division-rival Arizona Diamondbacks from Chase Field in Phoenix, where he was followed, respectively, by Juan Soto, Manny Machado and Xander Bogaerts, making up one of the most devastating foursomes in recent memory. Padres manager Bob Melvin wrote out the lineup and immediately texted it to Tatis.

«You've got the green light,» he said. «You're leading off.»

Tatis hasn't played since 2021, a season that began with a 14-year, $340 million extension and ended with a third-place finish in National League MVP voting. The events that followed changed the entire trajectory of his blossoming career. It began with a motorcycle accident in December, while Major League Baseball was in an owner-imposed lockout that prevented teams from communicating with their players. Tatis later arrived to spring training with a wrist injury that would keep him out for most of the next five months. As he was nearing a return, Tatis tested positive for an anabolic steroid, Clostebol, triggering an 80-game suspension that kept him out for the remainder of 2022 and the