After his PED suspension, Fernando Tatis Jr. has swung a hot bat this year. So, it was no surprise the San Diego Padres superstar left fielder made Major League Baseball history on Thursday. The slugger Tatis Jr. hit his 100th career home run, but the story doesn’t just end there.
Tatis became one of the fastest players in history to net their 100th career homer. He’s the fourth-fastest to get there; it took him 362 games. He’s behind teammate Gary Sanchez (355 games), New York Mets slugger Pete Alonso (347 games), and former Philadelphia Phillies superstar Ryan Howard, who needed just 325 games.
Fernando Tatis Jr. is the 4th-fastest player in AL/NL history to hit his 100th career home run. pic.twitter.com/snjeCRLfwa
— MLB Stats (@MLBStats) August 2, 2023
Tatis Jr. has made plenty of home run history before in a Padres uniform. The son of the former longtime major leaguer, Tatis Jr. hit 42 home runs in the 2021 MLB season. That’s the second-most in a single season by any Padre in history. Only Greg Vaughn, who blasted 50 bombs in the famed 1998 season, has more in a single season in Padres history.
The 100th home run of his career was also the 19th home run of the season for Fernando. He’s on his way to the third 20-home run season of his four-year career. The only time he didn’t hit 20 home runs was in the COVID-shortened season in 2020, but he still found a way to drill 17 dingers then.
The MLB world reacted to the news.
https://twitter.com/fellasdigest/status/1686866250071408643
4th fastest but took him 5 years. If he stayed healthy he'd probably be at 250 now https://t.co/h0NWGQU9AH
— Ha Seong Kim stan, Mike (@ThBoneOfMySword) August 2, 2023
Surprised to see Gary Sanchez is 3rd on this list ahead of @tatis_jr https://t.co/iURHTr2Ynk
— FriarGirl ⚾️ (@SDFriarGirl) August 2, 2023
— Tex (@TexasHODLcro) August 2, 2023
