Padres Star Rookie Fernando Tatis Jr. Expected to Miss Rest of Season With Back Injury

In just the first few months of his big league career, we (almost always) found ourselves documenting the other-worldly highlights of Padres young phenom Fernando Tatis Jr.

Unfortunately, however, it pains us to report that the 20-year-old infielder is expected to miss the rest of the 2019 campaign with back spasms.

Fernando Tatis Jr. is likely done for the season.
— Kevin Acee (@sdutKevinAcee) August 16, 2019

The devastating news comes less than 24 hours after Tatis was placed on the 10-day IL. He was forced to leave Tuesday's game due to his ailing back and ultimately sat out San Diego's contest against the Rays on Wednesday.

To say that the budding star was an imperative component of the Padres this year wouldn't even begin to describe his impact. In 372 plate appearances, the rook was slashing a mesmerizing .317/.379/.590 to go with 22 home runs, 53 RBI, 16 stolen bases, and 61 runs scored.

Those are numbers that were genuinely giving the Mets' Pete Alonso a run for his money in the National League Rookie of the Year Award race.

The #Padres placed INF Fernando Tatis Jr. (stress reaction in lower back, retro to 8/14) and INF Ian Kinsler (herniated cervical disc, retro 8/13) on the 10-day IL today and recalled INF Ty France and OF Travis Jankowski from Triple-A El Paso.
— San Diego Padres (@Padres) August 16, 2019

Somehow, there are more stats that perfectly summarize his rising stardom. In terms of NL shortstops, Tatis boasted the third-highest WAR at 3.7. Only Javier Baez (4.4) and Trevor Story (4.1) have amassed a higher tally.

While this injury wouldn't typically sideline a young player for the rest of the season, San Diego is playing it safe with their 20-year-old star. With the playoffs out of reach, preserving the health of one of their franchise cornerstones is absolutely the right decision, as disappointing as it may be.

We can't wait to see him back in action in 2020.