San Diego Padres: Fernando Tatis Jr. makes Opening Day roster; Could extension be far behind?
The San Diego Padres have named top prospect Fernando Tatis Jr. their starting shortstop. Could an extension be far behind?
Some teams say they are going to take their best 25 players to start the season. The San Diego Padres appear to actually mean it. Chris Paddock made the opening day rotation and now, instead of delaying his promotion by a few weeks to get an extra year of service time, the club will have Fernando Tatis Jr. on the roster as a part of the opening day lineup.
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Fernando Tatis Jr. has made the team.#Padres believe he's ready and makes them the best possible team.
— Kevin Acee (@sdutKevinAcee) March 27, 2019
Tatis Jr., Manny Machado, Ian Kinsler and Eric Hosmer form a pretty productive infield. Once they signed Machado, you had to figure the San Diego Padres were going to be pretty aggressive. This spring, Tatis Jr. hit .241 with a .761 OPS in 54 at-bats. He also did stuff like this:
The 20-year old hit .286 with a .862 OPS in AA last year before missing the rest of the season with a thumb injury.
With Tatis Jr. making the club, you have to wonder if a contract extension is far behind. We’ve already seen Eloy Jimenez sign an extension without a single plate appearance in the majors. The Philadelphia Phillies did the same thing with Scott Kingery last season. The Tampa Bay Rays gave Brandon Lowe an extension with limited MLB time. It wouldn’t be surprising. The San Diego Padres get some cost certainty and Tatis gets to cash in a little bit early.
The buzz around the San Diego Padres is palpable. For the first time in a very long time, they will be must-see TV this season. After adding Machado to one of the biggest contracts ever, some of the talent from their top farm system is going to impact the major leagues and quicker than we thought.
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It would not be surprising if the team follows the example set by others and locking that talent up for the long term. That could very well start with their 20-year-old shortstop.