Padres takeaways: When might Fernando Tatis Jr., other injured stars return?
Fernando Tatis Jr. #23 of the San Diego Padres looks on in the first inning against the Washington Nationals June 24, 2024 at Petco Park in San Diego, California.
Amid the best stretch of their season, the San Diego Padres won nine of their past 11 games despite having four of their highest-paid players on the injured list. Here are a few takeaways on when those players might return.
Fernando Tatis Jr. could miss much of the second half
Tatis is targeting a post-All-Star-break return after being diagnosed with a stress reaction — a precursor to a stress fracture — in his right femur. The right fielder declined last week to share an exact timetable.
One medical expert who has not examined Tatis but possesses experience with femoral stress reactions said that, based on the nature of such injuries, a late-July comeback likely would be “optimistic.”
“One rule that some people go by is … from the time we start treatment until the pain goes away, it takes about equal time until he goes back,” said Dr. Timothy Gibson, a board-certified orthopedic surgeon at MemorialCare Orange Coast Medical Center in Fountain Valley, Calif. “So if he’s pain-free in two weeks, then he might be able to play in two additional weeks. But if it takes him four weeks to be pain-free, it could take eight weeks.
“These are injuries that I always tell people it’s difficult to have as a patient and difficult to treat because it’s out of our hands. We have to wait and see how your body responds. It can be four weeks. It could be 20 weeks. It just depends.”
Dr. Gibson added that Tatis should make a “100 percent recovery” while noting that femoral stress reactions are rare for baseball players. That might help explain why the Padres did not order imaging on Tatis’ right leg until June. (Tatis had complained of quad tightness since April.)
“This is an injury that often is picked up a little later because it presents as a muscle strain often and he’s not the profile of an athlete that would typically get it,” Dr. Gibson said. “You know, you don’t think a baseball player is going to get a stress reaction of his femur. It just isn’t that common. You think of a runner or somebody who does more repetitive high impact.”
Dr. Gibson said that if he were treating Tatis, he would examine the outfielder’s conditioning and weightlifting programs, his footwear, and “what stress you’re putting on the bone away from the game to be prepared to play.”
Another potential consideration would be the amount of baseball Tatis has played after more than a full year of relative inactivity. Last season, following his return from multiple surgeries and a suspension, Tatis started 140 of 142 games. He then played winter ball in his native Dominican Republic before starting 79 of the Padres’ first 80 games this year.
