San Diego Padres star shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr. left Monday night’s home game against the San Francisco Giants (SF-SD GameTracker) with what was later announced as a shoulder injury.
“Fernando Tatis Jr. left tonight’s game with a left shoulder subluxation. He will be re-evaluated [Tuesday],” the Padres said. While the Padres are expected to provide an update on Tuesday, CBS Sports HQ’s Jim Bowden reports Tatis will be sidelined for at least a few weeks. That timetable would grow to months if Tatis needs to undergo shoulder surgery.
Tatis went down in obvious pain in the third inning after swinging and missing on an Anthony Desclafani breaking ball. He stayed down for several seconds while being attended to by the team trainer and then walked off the field while clutching his left arm. He would not return and would be replaced defensively by Ha-seong Kim at short for the top of the fourth inning.
Here’s a look at the injury:
According to Johns Hopkins Medicine, subluxation “occurs when the humerus partially slides in and out of place quickly.” As well, subluxation can cause damage to the shoulder capsule, ligaments, and or labrum. The extent of Tatis’ injury and his timeline for a return isn’t known at this time. Likely, more will be known after he’s further examined on Tuesday.
Former Marlins president David Samson broke down the injury on the latest episode of Nothing Personal with David Samson. Listen below:
This past offseason, Tatis signed a $340 million contract extension with the Padres. He’s coming off a stellar 2020 campaign in which he finished fourth in the NL MVP balloting. This season, he’s off to a slow start with a slash line of .167/.286/.333 and one home run in five games. To state the obvious, the loss of Tatis for any significant length of time would be a serious blow to the Padres, who hope to compete with the world champion Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL West.
