Fernando Tatis Jr. Suspended 80 Games For PED Violation

While he was supposed to return to the Padres lineup soon, Fernando Tatis Jr. will not play in 2022 after testing positive for PEDs.

SAN DIEGO, CA - AUGUST 4: Fernando Tatis Jr. #23 of the San Diego Padres talks with Josh Bell #24 during a baseball game against the Colorado Rockies August 4, 2022 at Petco Park in San Diego, California. (Photo by Denis Poroy/Getty Images)

Fernando Tatis Jr. will not play baseball for the San Diego Padres in 2022. Having missed all of the season thus far due to a wrist fracture he sustained in an offseason motorcycle accident, Tatis will now face an 80-game suspension after it was announced he tested positive for PEDs on Friday.

This is a shocking revelation, as Tatis is the biggest name player to test positive for steroids in some time. The 23-year-old superstar has suddenly changed the narrative of his budding career entirely.

First, some could have questioned Tatis for breaking his wrist in a motorcycle accident in the first place, putting himself in harm’s way despite being on a $340 million contract. Now he has made himself unavailable when his team needed him most, due to testing positive for PEDs.

Luckily the Padres were active at the deadline, adding Juan Soto, Josh Bell and Brandon Drury to a lineup that already had Manny Machado, so they still have a chance to make a run this year. But the idea of trading for Soto was to pair him with both Machado and Tatis.

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Moving forward that will still be the core of this team, but it is fair to wonder what the rest of Tatis’ career is going to look like considering everything that has happened in the past year.