Jul 16, 2022; San Diego, California, USA; San Diego Padres shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr. (23) gestures toward the stands during the sixth inning against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Petco Park. Mandatory Credit: Orlando Ramirez-USA TODAY Sports

Ever since news broke that San Diego Padres slugger Fernando Tatis Jr. had been suspended for 80 games for violating MLB’s performance-enhancing drug policy, the Major League Baseball world has heard from a lot of people, including the Padres GM, the Padres manager, and some of his teammates, many of whom voiced disappointment over the news.

Tatis released a statement of his own, saying that he “inadvertently took a medication to treat ringworm that contained Clostebol,” an excuse that appeared to be debunked by several medical experts.

Sunday night, his father, Fernando Tatis, Sr., spoke with MLB insider Hector Gomez and shared a completely different excuse for why his son tested positive for PEDs.

“What involves him (Tatis Jr.) is a steroid that contains a spray called trofobol,” Tatis Sr. told Gomez. “He got a fungus due to a haircut. His mistake was not reading what it contains, which is what apparently makes him guilty of something totally unknown.”

So…which is it? Treatment for ringworm or treatment for fungus “due to a haircut?”

Tatis Sr. continued, by saying that the treatment his son received from MLB is unfair and will cost the league “millions” of viewers.

“All of this has happened because of something that is not worth this issue,” said Tatis Sr. “This is something for the skin, that’s something that’s not performance enhancing and has no testosterone. It has nothing to help you improve in the game.

“It was a mistake that could have been handled differently, destroy the image of a player for such a small thing, for a situation like this. Is a catastrophe not just for Tatis Jr, but for all baseball. There’s millions of fans that will stop watching baseball.”

As you can imagine, the MLB world had some thoughts on the victimhood approach, as well as the ever-shifting excuses for how Tatis Jr. ended up with PEDs in his system.

We’ll have to wait and see what excuse the Tatis family comes up with next.

[Hector Gomez]

About Sean Keeley

Along with writing for Awful Announcing and The Comeback, Sean is the Editorial Strategy Director for Comeback Media. Previously, he created the Syracuse blog Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician and wrote 'How To Grow An Orange: The Right Way to Brainwash Your Child Into Rooting for Syracuse.' He has also written non-Syracuse-related things for SB Nation, Curbed, and other outlets. He currently lives in Seattle where he is complaining about bagels. Send tips/comments/complaints to sean@thecomeback.com.