Padres: What Tatis injury means for Rookie of the Year race

SAN DIEGO, CA - AUGUST 13: Andy Green #14 of the San Diego Padres and a trainer talk with Fernando Tatis Jr. #23 during the sixth inning of a baseball game against the Tampa Bay Rays at Petco Park August 13, 2019 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Denis Poroy/Getty Images)
SAN DIEGO, CA - AUGUST 13: Andy Green #14 of the San Diego Padres and a trainer talk with Fernando Tatis Jr. #23 during the sixth inning of a baseball game against the Tampa Bay Rays at Petco Park August 13, 2019 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Denis Poroy/Getty Images)
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New York Mets
(Photo by Lizzy Barrett/MLB Photos via Getty Images)

What does this mean for the NL Rookie of the Year race?

Major League Baseball fans have loved watching Tatis all season long, whether it was his 6 (yes SIX) leadoff home runs or leaping 5 feet into the air to rob a hit from Jesus Aguilar or tagging on a lazy pop-up to second base in Pittsburgh.

But they will only be able to watch his highlights now because he is on the shelf. Mets fans are delighted with the injury because Alonso is a slam dunk to win the award since he plays in New York and has 30 home runs (Tatis only has 8 less).

Mets first basemen Pete Alonso and Tatis have been competing for the National League Rookie of the Year award all season long.

Alonso has been only hitting homers all year, but in addition to hitting homers, Tatis has been making spectacular plays in the field and taking any base he can when you aren’t paying attention.

Here is a comparison of their years, with the better stat in bold.

Pete Alonso                                                        Fernando Tatis

Average                   .264                                              .316

OBP                          .369                                              .379

OPS                          .965                                              .969

HR                              30                                                   22

K                                 132                                                110

As you can see Tatis has clearly had a better season, and the MLB is greatly going to miss him because he gave them highlight plays every single night on both sides of the ball.

Now that Tatis is likely to miss the rest of 2019, Alonso will win the Rookie of the Year, but there will be an asterisk because his greatest competitor was hurt.