Fernando Tatis Jr. Just Unleashed the Bat Flip of the Year

Fernando Tatis Jr. has had a solid season as he's gotten back to playing baseball after missing all of the 2022 campaign due to injury and suspension. The former face of Major League Baseball has had some brilliant moments as he's acclimated to a new position and facing top-level pitching again. But we've seen glimpses of the kid who set MLB on fire a few years ago. On Friday night we got another, as Tatis unleashed the bat flip of the year after a clutch home run.

The San Diego Padres were up 2-0 on the Arizona Diamondbacks in the bottom of the eighth inning and were in the middle of a rally. Ha-Seong Kim was on first base and there were no outs. Tatis took an 0-1 pitch from Miguel Castro and turned it inside out, launching it 419 feet to dead center as it exited the yard at 106.1 mph. Tatis admired his work then bat-flipped and stared into his dugout to pump his teammates up.

Check this out:

And here's a better angle of the bat flip:

That's amazing. Such a great moment for him. A bright spot in a disappointing Padres' campaign.

Tatis has been up and down this year as he returned from a performance-enhancing drug suspension. He's largely proven that he's just as dynamic now as he was before the positive test. He has struggled with timing and pitch recognition, but his power, speed and dynamic playmaking ability are all still present.

As a 24-year-old, coming back from a full year off was always going to be difficult. That said, his StatCast page shows he's still among the best players in baseball.

And, as we saw Friday night, he can still do the spectacular.