PEORIA, Ariz. — The Padres have laid out a cautious plan to bring the Dominican back into action. Fernando Tadis JrRight fielder at their shortstop this spring.
Daddies hasn’t played in a game with the big San Diego team in nearly 17 months. Since then, the Dominican has undergone three surgeries, including follow-up surgery on his left wrist and two to repair a torn labrum in his left shoulder — from which he has only just recovered.
As a result, the San Diego Cactus League will have to find a way to slowly bring Tattis into the action of games. At the same time, the health of the clubber should be ensured. On Tuesday, Tattis and the Padres’ coaching staff met to discuss the plan for the Dominican this spring, and manager Bob Melvin laid out part of that blueprint during his media session Wednesday.
“The guy wants to play now,” Melvin said. “He wants to see action in the first game. He’s not going to play in the first game. That will happen within the first week, but we want to make sure he does everything to get used to game action again.”
Tadis must still serve the remainder of his 80-game suspension for banned substance use, meaning he won’t be eligible to return to the Padres until April 20. With two months to go before he makes his regular season debut, there’s no reason to rush the San Diego Dominican.
Since his early arrival to spring camp, Daddies has seen action almost exclusively in the outfield. The Friars haven’t ruled out giving him some opportunities at shortstop. But with Xander Bogaerts, Tatis Looks to be the starting right-handed patrolman of the team. Melvin mentioned another reason to focus on the outfield:
“Health-wise, he’s less of a risk if he covers the outfield than shortstop,” Melvin said. “The guy is coming off a couple of surgeries. He hasn’t seen a game in basically 15 months. The best thing for him to get used to is to see the outfield exclusively at the beginning of the season.”
Melvin left Tadis open for action at shortstop later in camp. (Note that the club’s two leading shortstops, Bogarts and Korean Ha-Seong Kim, will leave the team to participate in the World Baseball Classic next month.)
“There’s an intuitive element when you play,” Melvin noted. “We want him to tick all the boxes — try to slide feet first, get back on first base, get him to do all the things he needs to do. “Well, that’s what it feels like.” After we go through all of that, you’ll see it in action.”
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