Padres' Fernando Tatis Jr. 'Has to Be Himself' After PED Suspension, Manager Says

San Diego Padres manager Bob Melvin doesn't want Fernando Tatis Jr. to try to do too much when he returns to the field Thursday for his first regular-season game since 2021.

"He has to be himself if he's going to be the player that he is," Melvin said, per Alden Gonzalez of ESPN. "It doesn't matter what anybody else thinks of him; it just matters what we think of him."

Tatis was suspended for violating Major League Baseball's performance-enhancing drugs policy and missed the entire 2022 campaign because of the punishment and injury concerns. He had 20 games remaining on the suspension at the start of this season.

Those 20 games are up, and he will be in the lineup and in his new right field position when the Padres face the Arizona Diamondbacks on Thursday.

Gonzalez noted Melvin typically doesn't communicate with his team's players much during the offseason but kept in touch with Tatis leading up to the campaign. While the manager will surely be pleased with the chance to write the star player's name on the lineup card, he isn't the only one with the Padres anticipating the return.

"You can sense it," Xander Bogaerts said. "There's a lot of talk—positive talk, positive vibes. This is a once-in-a-generation-type talent that we're here to see, and I'm so happy that he's on our team."

Tatis looked like a once-in-a-generation-type talent when he slashed .515/.570/1.212 with seven home runs during an eight-game stretch with San Diego's Triple-A affiliate.

It isn't realistic to expect that type of production at the major league level, but he was an All-Star and Silver Slugger who slashed .282/.364/.611 with a league-best 42 home runs, 97 RBI and 25 stolen bases during the 2021 campaign.

San Diego reached the 2022 National League Championship Series without him, but it might have been able to win the World Series if he were present.

That is the expectation this season now that the lineup will feature Tatis, Juan Soto, Manny Machado, Bogaerts and more. Yes, the Padres are off to an inconsistent 9-11 start, but they are just 2.5 games behind the first-place Diamondbacks in the National League West with plenty of time to turn things around.

Getting Tatis back should help them do just that.