Can you imagine?

“I know,” Fernando Tatis Jr. said with a smile. “We would have missed a couple things already.”

The Padres decided against manipulating Tatis’ service time, promoting him to make his major league debut on opening day, because they thought he was the best choice to be their shortstop and could potentially help them win all sorts of different ways.

They had no idea it would go like this. Not now.


The organization was, of course, high on his potential and the speed and power and defensive skills he already possessed. But they also were sure to provide plenty of caveats about how they would be patient with any early struggles.

Tatis will almost certainly struggle at some point, because that happens even to Hall of Famers.

“Struggles are going to come,” he said. “In fact, they’ve been here. There have been a couple games. … But I make adjustments. This is what this game is about. You learn every day.”

But it turns out starting the season with their No. 1 prospect on the team is among the biggest reasons the Padres entered Sunday’s game against the Diamondbacks with an 11-5 record, three games up in the National League West.

In addition to having created 10 runs, tied with Manny Machado for most on the team, Tatis’ four defensive runs saved are tied with Javier Baez for most among major league shortstops and are second on the team to Machado’s five at third base.


Tatis’ wRC+ (Weighted Runs Created Plus, a metric that quantifies a player’s offensive contributions in the context of the league average) of 126 leads the team, one point above Wil Myers and seven ahead of Machado.

Tatis conceivably could have still done what he has here this weekend had he made his debut Friday, which was the 16th day of the season. A call-up that day would have prevented Tatis from earning a full year of service time, which could have potentially delayed a gigantic payday in free agency.

More likely, the Padres wouldn’t have at least three of their victories without him, including Saturday when his two-run homer in the third helped them edge the Diamondbacks 5-4.

Tatis has driven in and/or scored the deciding run three times — with a seventh-inning RBI double on Friday, a two-run homer April 5 and with a run after hitting a second-inning double on March 29. Further, he has scored at least one run in six different victories, five of which have come by two runs or fewer.


His seven-pitch, two-out walk on April 3 led to him scoring the first run in a game the Padres would never trail. He was hit by the eighth pitch he saw leading off the seventh inning Monday in San Francisco and went on to score the first of the Padres’ three runs that decisive inning in a 6-5 victory.

Tatis, whose 20th birthday was 102 days ago, is the fifth-youngest player since 1900 with four home runs, according to Elias Sports Bureau. He is the third youngest since 1955. Andruw Jones hit his fourth home runs at 19 years, 126 days on Aug. 27, 1996. Miguel Cabrera hit his fourth homer 78 days after his 20th birthday, on July 5, 2003.

“I’ll be honest, I didn’t know I would help the team like I’ve been helping,” Tatis said. “I’m just glad I’m doing it. I have worked for it. Now here we are.”