When Will Fernando Tatis Jr. Return and Be Back? Fantasy Baseball Injury Update

Fernando Tatis Jr. was coming off a solid, albeit unspectacular season in 2023 where he put up a .257-25-78-91-29 line with a .332 wOBA and 113 wRC+. This season was looking like a nice improvement over last season, currently the author of a .279-14-36-50-8 line with a .359 wOBA and 139 wRC+.

But, as yet another Padre casualty to the IL, Tatis succumbed to injury this past week and is expected to have a lengthy absence.

How long will it be and when will he return? What will his fantasy outlook be when he returns? We'll discuss all that below.

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Fernando Tatis Jr. Injury Update for Fantasy Baseball

Tatis' injury designation comes with a vague name that comes with a vague timetable for return. The 25-year-old has been diagnosed with a femoral stress reaction. Right now, he's expected to come back sometime after the All-Star break, but mid-July sounds like the most optimistic scenario. An August return is more likely, which is good and bad for fantasy managers.

It's bad, of course, because managers will be without his services for a long time. In terms of good news, if managers can navigate the next month or so and find themselves in the thick of the fantasy playoff hunt, then they'll be getting key reinforcements when it matters most. As you can see from Tatis' Baseball Savant page shown above, he's got some awfully good peripheral numbers that show he's got the ability to put up some prolific numbers.

Fernando Tatis Jr. Fantasy Baseball Outlook

On top of those stats above, the Dominican has improved his strikeout rate, contact rate, swinging strike rate, and chase rate year-over-year (YoY), with all but chase rate improving for two consecutive years.

This tells me there's nothing phony about his performance to this point in the season. We may never see a 158 wRC+ season from him again like we did in 2021, but 139 is plenty productive. Unfortunately for teams that were holding the former All-Star, he was having his best month of the season, slashing .365/.427/.635 with five home runs through 19 games. If the 2x Silver Slugger Award winner can pick up where he left off when he returns, or even close to it, managers will be happy with the outcome. Stash Tatis in an IL spot for now and hope he doesn't suffer any setbacks along the way.

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