Fernando Tatis Jr. acknowledges father’s guidance as Padres star surpasses Tatis Sr.’s 113 career home runs mark
Fernando Tatis Jr. just surpassed his father’s career home run total on Sunday. With his 114th career long ball, the young player has already hit more home runs than his father ever did. Tatis Sr. played 11 seasons, and Tatis Jr. has played in parts of five seasons so far. After achieving this feat, he took to Instagram to shout out his father.
Home runs are much more common now. The launch angle revolution has led to an uptick in home runs, especially in comparison to bygone eras.
Nevertheless, it is impressive that Tatis already has more homers than his father ever did in just a fraction of the time. With the most recent blast coming against the Los Angeles Dodgers, Tatis etched his name into the history books.
Fernando Tatis Jr.’s career stacked up to his father
Fernando Tatis Sr. was a solid baseball player for his career. In 11 seasons, he blasted 113 home runs and had a .265 batting average. He had a 103 wRC+ for all 11 seasons and accumulated 6.8 fWAR.
Unfortunately, while it is impressive in its own right, Tatis Sr.’s career just doesn’t compare to his son’s. Tatis Sr. played 949 games and his son has just 457 to his name so far, but he’s already ahead.
In 2021 alone, Tatis Jr. posted the career fWAR of his father. He also has more stolen bases thus far. The San Diego Padres star has recorded 87 steals already, and his father had 50.
Some of the other counting stats would be impossible to surpass in five seasons compared to 11, but Tatis Jr. is well on his way. He has a career total of 295 RBIs, which is well on the way to break his dad’s mark of 448.
When it comes to father-son pairs, one is usually better than the other. It’s rare for a family to produce two elite players, and in this case, the younger player has the edge over his father.
