Manny Machado was asked this week what he has found most impressive about Tatis this season.
Machado went on to say something about Tatis being healthy and having fun. But it was the way Machado began his answer that stood out.
“I mean, I’ve seen it for six years,” Machado said.
Can you believe it? Six years?
Back then, Tatis was wearing blue, playing shortstop and had shorter hair. And he was setting baseball ablaze.
Tatis is 25 years old now. He made his big-league debut more than five seasons ago. He is more than a year removed from the surgeries and the suspension. He is in his second season as a right fielder.
It has been tempting to think he should be more by now, considering that for three seasons he was doing things only players with plaques do and some things not even those players were doing at his age.
It’s been a winding road. He played just 84 games due to injury his first season. Everyone played just 60 games due to COVID his second season. He managed to appear in 130 games during his third season, leading the National League in home runs despite a shoulder that kept popping out of its socket.
And by that time, he had hit 81 home runs, stole 52 bases and had a .291 batting average and .965 OPS. This was a combination of things no player had ever put together in their first 273 major league games.
In 213 games since then, Tatis has hit 38 homers, stole 37 bases and batted .265 with a .790 OPS.
Oh, and he fell off a motorcycle at least once, fracturing his wrist, had surgery for that injury, and before he could come back was suspended for a failed PED test, then had another wrist surgery and shoulder surgery.
