Was Saturday a harbinger of another great June for Tatis; Notes on Tuesday’s starter, Morejon, Peralta, Estrada
Fernando Tatis Jr. was 3-for-4 Saturday with a home run … on the first day of June.
Should we take that as a sign … an omen.
Historically, June has always been Fernando’s strongest month. And the split to the next month isn’t close.
Tatis has a career .337 batting average (96-for-285) over 74 career games with 22 doubles, three triples, 22 home runs, 53 RBIs, 19 stolen bases, 39 walks and 73 runs scored — for a .421 on-base percentage and a .667 slugging percentage for a 1.087 OPS.
His next-highest batting average for any month is .288 (July). His next-highest slash line marks for any month are a .349 on-base percentage (August), a .527 slugging percentage (July) and a .873 OPS August.
Tatis has had more doubles and homers in June than any other month. Ditto for stolen bases, walks and runs scored. He has driven in four more runs in both July and August … but he also struck out more often in those months.
— With both Yu Darvish and Joe Musgrove on the injured list for the next two weeks, the Padres need to find another starting pitcher for Tuesday’s start against the Angels in Anaheim. Padres’ manager Mike Shildt said the Padres will likely call someone up rather than go with a bullpen start. But who? The lowest earned run average among a starting pitcher at Triple-A El Paso is 6.81 by Nolan Watson, although Randy Vásquez had a 7.45 ERA with the Chihuahuas. Right-hander Adam Mazur, 23, the Padres’ №5 prospect, was recently promoted to El Paso from Double-A San Antonio. But he has a 7.11 ERA in four starts (covering just 19 innings) with the Chihuahuas. And №2 prospect Robby Snelling, 20, has a 5.14 ERA at San Antonio (where Mazur had a 1.95 ERA). The Padres have three other top-10 prospects pitching for San Antonio. Right-hander Ryan Bergert, 24, the №7 prospect, has a 6.08 ERA; left-hander Austin Krob, 24, the №9 prospect, has a 4.17 ERA, and right-hander Victor Lizarraga, 20, the №10 prospect, has a 3.86 ERA.
— Left-hander Adrian Morejon, 25, who has nine starts among his 65 Major League appearances with the Padres, has not been scored upon in his last five outings totaling 10 innings. During the run he has given up two hits and two walks with eight strikeouts for a 0.500 WHIP. Morejon has a 1.93 ERA and a 1.071 WHIP in 15 appearances covering 23 1/3 innings this season — with 29 strikeouts for an average of 11.2 strikeouts per game and a 5.8-to-1 strikeouts-to-walk ratio.
— Left-hander Wandy Peralta is also working on a string of 10 1/3 straight scoreless innings dating back to the start of May. Peralta has given up six hits and four walks over the run of 12 straight scoreless appearances with nine strikeouts. The streak has lowered Peralta’s ERA to 2.66 for 27 appearances with a 1.014 WHIP.
— Right-hander Jeremiah Estrada has not allowed a run in 13 of his last 14 appearances and has struck out 20 of the last 31 hitters he has face
