The postgame ice packs were more frequent and in more places.

It was clear Fernando Tatis Jr. was getting at least a little worn down and banged up.

On Tuesday, his back was sore. Yet before a swing on a foul ball made him wince in the midst of a sixth-inning strikeout, almost certainly his final at-bat of his rookie season, he had two hits — and took off trying to steal second base after the second of those two singles.

“That gives you an idea how strong the competitive fire is,” manager Andy Green said. “He’s obviously hurting, but on his own he takes off trying to steal a base, because he thinks he can, so why not. We love that part of him. We want that part to stay. But there are moment he’ll learn throughout the course of 162 and how badly the team would like him on the field.”


No one is saying he got hurt because he plays too hard too often. But the idea that maybe the “Wild Horse” needs to be tamed a little bit was a topic being broached even before Tatis was placed on the injured list with a stress reaction in his lower back.

“There are certain plays in a game that call for less aggression,” Green said. “Some guys you have to ratchet them up so they have aggression, and some guys you have to dial it down until they find that balance.”

It’s about not always seeking the extra base even though he probably could. It’s about not diving for a ball he was never going to get even though he gets to more than most.

“That is part of his greatness,” Green said. “And you don’t want to take that away.”


But it is important to learn that even if he could prevent a hit, it probably isn’t worth the pounding on the body to do so in the eighth inning of a 9-2 game.

It can only be learned.

“You can’t really control that,” Manny Machado said. “That’s who he is. You can’t tell a player to back off or not dive or not play how he does. That’s just who he is. Everyone is different. Eventually he’ll learn. He’ll learn when there is a need to not be on the ground. That just comes with time. … Those are things that baseball just comes to you with.”

Coaches had spent time pointing out various scenarios, trying to accelerate the occasional deceleration.


There was at least one sign Tatis was getting it. When he jogged into second base on a double to the gap in left-center last week with the Padres enjoying a healthy lead late in the game, it was the first time anyone could remember him not sprinting the entire way and rounding the base hard just in case he could got the chance to take 90 more feet.

“You get the feel,” Machado said. “Baseball is all about feel. You feel when you need to do things.”

It won’t be an easy or quick process for the 20-year-old who made the seemingly impossible seem routine. Even the strained left hamstring that kept him out 34 games earlier this season came on a play in which he stretched in a way that would have torn most non-Olympic gymnasts in two.

There are generally considered to be five tools in baseball — hitting for average, hitting for power, arm strength, speed and defense. For one to truly be a five-tool player is rare. Tatis is essentially a unicorn, a seven-tool player. His uncanny instincts and virtually constant hustle enhance his physical attributes.


“It’s really difficult because nobody can really relate to him, because no one has been as athletic as he has been on the baseball field,” Eric Hosmer said. “But there are times you’ve got to step on the gas and times you’ve got to let off a little bit.”

That includes knowing when to rest. The Padres profusely praised Tatis when he chose to play through a sore elbow on July 7 and ended up homering twice and making a sensational play in the field.

The ability to decipher between an injury and an ailment is paramount. But so is knowing then to ease the pedal off the metal.

“The work ethic is there, baseball knowledge is there,” Hosmer said. “I think that’s the only thing he ends up needing to learn — that he’s more valuable for his team for 155 games or 150 games or whatever they want. It’s hard for people to grasp, but there are times we don’t want him diving out there.


“There are just certain times over the course of 162 games, if you know you’re body isn’t 100 percent there are certain days you’re not going to do certain things on the field.”