Fernando Tatis Jr. apologized privately to his San Diego Padres teammates for testing constructive for a performance-enhancing drug, then publicly expressed regret for the 80-game suspension that can hold him off the sphere nicely into subsequent season.
“There’s no different one guilty than myself,” Tatis stated Tuesday.
“I’m actually sorry for my errors,” he added. “My goals have was my worst nightmares.”
The star shortstop helped make baseball enjoyable once more in San Diego with a youthful swagger and flashy expertise in his first three big-league seasons. However his suspension simply as he was about to return from a damaged wrist has been a damper because the Padres scrap to carry onto a wild-card playoff spot, and has even led to some followers turning in opposition to him.
“It’s going to be a really lengthy course of to achieve all people’s belief once more, to achieve that love again that I've stabbed straight to the center,” he stated.
Wanting and sounding downcast, Tatis, 23, spoke within the Padres’ dugout whereas sitting subsequent to normal supervisor A.J. Preller.
“Sorry, followers, good baseball followers, and I’m studying. I’m maturing,” he stated.
“I’m going to recollect how this feels, and I’m going to make myself by no means be on this place ever once more,” stated Tatis, who was wearing a crimson polo shirt and denims.
Tatis additionally introduced that he could have surgical procedure as quickly as attainable on his troublesome left shoulder. He resisted getting the surgical procedure within the offseason after which broke his left wrist in a bike accident in his native Dominican Republic in December.
Tatis was suspended Aug. 12 for 80 video games after MLB stated he examined constructive for Clostebol, an anabolic steroid. Tatis initially stated he unintentionally took a medicine to deal with ringworm that contained the banned substance.
Requested concerning the ringworm story, Tatis supplied a clarification, saying he had been coping with a pores and skin an infection for a while, took some treatment and examined constructive quickly after.
“There’s no excuses. I must do a method higher job realizing what goes inside my physique,” he stated.
“I haven’t made the suitable selections in these previous two weeks, month, even the beginning of the 12 months. I made a mistake and I remorse each single step I've taken,” he stated.
The son of a former main leaguer, Tatis stated he has “let so many individuals down,” mentioning proprietor Peter Seidler and Preller by identify. “I've failed each fan, I've failed my nation, I've failed my household, my mother and father.”
Some followers have taped over the “Tatis Jr.” on the again of jerseys they put on to video games. The Padres have eliminated some massive banners at Petco Park bearing his picture, edited him out of a video celebrating their Metropolis Join alternate uniforms and scuttled a Tatis bobblehead night time Sept. 7 in favor of a Juan Soto T-shirt giveaway.
Tatis was getting shut to creating his season debut after recovering from surgical procedure on his fractured left wrist in mid-March.
Tatis addressed his teammates within the clubhouse earlier Tuesday.
“He was unhappy,” stated left fielder Jurickson Profar, who labored out with Tatis within the Dominican Republic within the offseason.
“It’s not straightforward. You make a mistake after which you must discuss in entrance of your teammates since you allow them to down,” Profar stated. “It’s not a straightforward state of affairs, however he stayed robust with it.”
Profar stated Tatis “has a great distance in entrance of him. For him, it’s going to take without end. He desires to play baseball once more. I heard he’s going to do the surgical procedure, too. It’s a protracted highway again. ... I do know he’s going to work laborious and are available again and present folks he can play nice baseball.”
Profar stated the Padres gamers “forgive him. He’s our teammate, he’s our brother, and we’re going to be behind him.”
Manny Machado, who has carried the Padres offensively all season, stated Tatis stated what his teammates needed to listen to.
“It’s a tough dialog you’ve acquired to have,” Machado stated. “He got here up right here and spoke in entrance of a giant group, which isn't straightforward within the circumstances. ... It was a primary step. I’m glad he did it, and now we are able to put this behind us, everybody in right here as nicely, and proceed to play baseball. He’s going to be cheering for us, rooting for us all the time, and we’re going to be right here for him for no matter he wants.
“We’re all household right here, all of us again one another up,” Machado stated. “He’s a generational expertise, and he’s going to should study from his errors. We’ve all made them. All of us get forgiven, and we transfer ahead and we develop from it.”
Post a Comment