Tatis Jr. and the Padres agree to 340 million dollars and 14 years
Fernando Tatis Jr. and the San Diego agreed to a 14-year, 340 million dollar contract extension, according to MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand.
The Padres confirmed the landmark deal, marking MLB’s third-largest contract extension in terms of total new money added and the longest in terms of additional years on a player’s contract.
The Tatis Jr. extension begins this year and contains a full no-trade clause, a source told Feinsand. It also contains a signing bonus of over 10 million dollars and is not deferred at all from the money.
Tatis Jr., 22, would not have been eligible for arbitration until next year, and would not have reached free agency until after the 2024 season. Now, the Padres have made sure that he will not go anywhere.
Tatis, a native of San Pedro de Macorís in the Dominican Republic and the son of a former Major League Baseball slugger, emerged as one of the biggest stories of the 2020 season as he expanded into a promising rookie year by cutting back. 277 / .366 /.571 with 17 home runs and fourth place in the National League Most Valuable Player Award voting.
He was the fourth most valuable player in MLB according to the Fan-Graphs version of WAR. Although he has logged less than the equivalent of a major league season, Tatis Jr. is off to a historic start, as his 39 home runs are the most of any primary shortstop in his first 150 games of his career.
He also made massive advances on defense and possesses one of the strongest arms.
Brilliant face of MLB
Tatis Jr. is already one of the brightest faces in sport.
He is the cover athlete for MLB The Show ’21, the youngest player to grace the game since it debuted in 2006.
Tatis has played just 143 MLB games in his two-year career, hitting 39 home runs, driving in 98 runs. RBIs and stealing 27 bases with a .301 batting average.