ATLANTA — Over three days in late June, Major League Baseball players voted, along with managers and coaches, on who among their peers should be an All-Star.
They could select up to five starting pitchers, three relievers, two players at each infield position and six outfielders in their league.
And it seems that for many who cast electronic ballots in the National League, it was a no-brainer to vote for a player who was just beginning to show signs of coming out of a career-worst slump.
And so Fernando Tatis Jr. will make the second All-Star appearance of his career on Tuesday in Atlanta. He was voted in by fans in 2021 and 2024, but pulled out of last year’s game due to a leg injury.
“He’s one of the best, ever since he came in the league,” Reds shortstop Elly De La Cruz said Monday. “He’s still dangerous. It doesn’t matter how he’s doing at the moment. That’s why he’s an All-Star.”
De La Cruz was one of a half-dozen of Tatis’ NL All-Star teammates who spoke Monday about the Padres’ 26-year-old right fielder.
On the night his All-Star selection was announced, Tatis was asked if he was surprised.
The answer was somewhat self-evident in that he had made reservations at an out-of-the-way resort for the first three days of this week.
His response, however, had a hint of defiance along with some defense of what why he was a worthy pick.
“I mean,” he said before a long pause, “I’ve been playing good baseball, man. It’s just a really good combination of baserunning, defense, you know. Obviously, we know I can be a way better player offensively, but at the same time, I’m trying to do everything at the same time.”
That is a significant part of why he is here.
“He’s giving 100% every time he goes out there, which is cool,” Dodgers catcher Will Smith said.
“He plays the game really well,” Reds pitcher Andrew Abbott said. “He has a cannon in the outfield. He hits homers, hits for average. He does the little things right. He’s what you would describe as an everyday player that is what you would want on the field. He’s going to do whatever he needs to do to help the team win.”
Certainly, star power is on Tatis’ side as well.
Tatis is among those whose stardom has crossed borders. As big as he is in San Diego and as many kids wear his jersey in cities around the Unites States, he is bigger in the Dominican Republic, a country that counts All-Star baseball players among its chief exports.
Shohei Ohtani was the only NL All-Star during Monday’s media availability to have a more consistently humongous throng of reporters around his table. Most of those shouting questions at Tatis for 45 minutes were doing so in Spanish.
“He’s a superstar,” said De La Cruz, a fellow Dominican.
It was the timing of the vote that contributed to making Tatis’ selection seem odd to many fans.
But big-league players see the game differently.
They have to face each other. They know what it takes to be good and what it is to be great. They observe not only results but how the game is played.
“It matters a lot to us,” Abbott said. “Personality-wise is big, but also how much energy and effort are you giving. And if it’s a lot, then a lot of guys are going to have your back at the end of the day.”
Players queried about the voting process say not everyone considers their ballot the same way, with equal gravity or even participates. But it probably did not hurt Tatis that the first row on the electronic stat sheet provided with the ballot listed players’ WAR. To see a fuller accounting of statistics required scrolling over.
At the time ballots were sent to players, Tatis ranked sixth in the National League in WAR and was third among the league’s outfielders. Tatis’ 4.1 WAR currently ranks third in the NL and is second among outfielders behind the Cubs’ Pete Crow-Armstrong (4.9).
The formula for Wins Above Replacement takes into account a player’s contributions on defense and running the bases in addition to offense.
“He can do it all out there,” Diamondbacks right fielder Corbin Carroll said. “The power he has, I’ve had a front-row seat to that for a couple years now. He takes the bags too. The play in the outfield — the arm, the range. He’s the complete player. He’s who you want to be as a player.”
Tatis did acknowledge deriving some validation from his All-Star selection.
“The game has evolved, the game has changed,” he said Monday. “But being able to bring the small things to the game is always great. Especially when the small things lead to big things. Baseball players in a lot of ways know how to identify that. It’s really humbling how people are paying attention to the small details.”
That said, Tatis’ offensive numbers when taken in totality would seem All-Star-worthy.
He is batting .274/.370/.460 and has hit 16 home runs, scored 65 runs and stolen 21 bases. His .830 OPS and his homer total are tied for seventh among NL outfielders, the steals are fourth and the runs are tied for third. His 136 wRC-plus, a highly regarded metric that purports to measure overall offensive contribution, is sixth among NL outfielders.
He is one of six players at any position in all of MLB to have at least 16 home runs and 20 stolen bases.
While he hit just .188/.277/.333 in 35 games from May 3 to June 12, he has hit .320/.419/.525 over his other 59 games.
“When he’s on, he’s better than anybody almost,” Smith said. “Everybody is human here. We all have slumps. We all have years we’re not performing at our best. I don’t know his stats currently, but he deserves to be here.”
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