Tatis hits walk-off HR, follows with huge bat flip
In the near future, Fernando Tatis Jr. could be hitting massive homers for the Padres. But for now, he's continuing to rake in the Dominican Winter League.
Playing for Estrellas Orientales, Tatis hit a walk-off three-run home run on Thursday night, lifting his team to a 6-3 postseason win over Tigres del Licey. The Padres' No. 1 prospect knew it was gone as soon as he hit it, as he unleashed a huge bat flip, tossing his lumber toward the first-base dugout.
With the game tied at 3, Gustavo Nunez and Junior Lake led off the bottom of the ninth inning with consecutive singles off Jairo Asencio. Tatis followed with his third home run during the Dominican Winter League round-robin playoffs, which leads all hitters. MLB's No. 2 overall prospect went deep on an 0-2 pitch from Asencio to cap the comeback victory.
Tatis went 2-for-5 with four RBIs and a run scored. He also collected an RBI single in the third inning.
In addition to leading all batters in the Dominican Winter League playoffs in homers, Tatis also leads all hitters in RBIs (10), slugging percentage (.518), extra-base hits (six), runs (12) and triples (two). He also has four stolen bases in 15 games, while batting .268/.379/.518.
After leading the Dominican Winter League with a 29-21 record during the regular season, Estrellas Orientales is 9-6 during the round-robin playoffs, which is tied for first with Toros del Este.
During the Minor League season in 2018, Tatis batted .286/.355/.507 with 16 home runs over 88 games for Double-A San Antonio. His year was cut short after he underwent season-ending thumb surgery in mid-July. But the top prospect is certainly making up for the lost time with his impressive winter league campaign.