Padres star Fernando Tatis Jr. on 10-day injured list with shoulder trouble - MLB

SAN DIEGO – Electrifying shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr. of the San Diego Padres was placed on the 10-day injured list Saturday, a day after partially dislocating his left shoulder for the third time this season.

The Padres announced the move prior to their game against the Colorado Rockies. They also placed right-hander Chris Paddack on the IL with an oblique injury.

Tatis, the NL’s starting shortstop in the All-Star game, was injured Friday night while sliding awkwardly into third base in the first inning against the Rockies. He was in pain as he was led off the field by manager Jayce Tingler and a trainer.

Tingler said after Saturday night’s 5-3 loss that Tatis will be re-evaluated in 10 days and if he hasn’t made enough progress, season-ending surgery “would be on the table.”

Before the game, Tingler said Tatis was “a little bit more sore than maybe some of them we’ve had in the past.”

The Padres, who are in third place in the NL West and in control of the second wild-card spot, are keeping their fingers crossed that their superstar will be back in 10 days.

Tatis leads the NL with 31 home runs and 23 stolen bases. He’s hitting .292 with 70 RBIs.

His left shoulder has become a concern. He’s injured the joint while swinging his bat, diving for a grounder and sliding. Two of those three injuries have landed him on the IL.

The Padres said Tatis had an MRI Saturday morning and has instability and inflammation in his left shoulder.

“We were under the very realistic possibility that once it comes out and goes back in, there’s a very good chance that could repeat and continue to happen,” Tingler said. “We certainly understand the risk and with the understanding that certainly with the slide yesterday, he just ended up in an awkward position like that, there was a chance of that possibly happening.”

On Friday night, Tatis singled and advanced on Manny Machado‘s sharp grounder to third baseman Ryan McMahon, who came up with the ball but then had it pop out of his glove and roll behind him into short left field. Tatis made a dash for third but shortstop Brendan Rodgers ran toward third, took the throw from McMahon and tagged out the sliding Tatis.

Tatis slid into the bag, landing hard on his left shoulder and crumbling in pain a few feet away, bringing a hush over Petco Park. Tingler and a trainer helped Tatis off the field as he winced in pain, holding his left arm. The trainer was holding Tatis’ upper arm/shoulder.

Tatis suffered a partially dislocated left shoulder on a violent swing April 5 against San Francisco and went on the 10-day injured list. He reinjured the shoulder diving for a ball and left a game against Cincinnati on June 19 but missed only one game.

The 22-year-old Tatis left a spring training game after hurting the shoulder while making a throw but was back two days later. He revealed then that he had been dealing with shoulder discomfort since his minor league days.

Tatis also missed eight games in mid-May after testing positive for COVID-19.

Tatis has wowed fans with his tape-measure home runs and bat flips, daring base-running and aggressive plays at shortstop, although he leads the majors with 20 errors.

The Padres have worked with him to get him to cut down on his headfirst slides. His slide Friday night was feet first.

He became the first Padres player voted to start an All-Star Game since Tony Gwynn in 1999.

YOKOHAMA, Japan – Trevor Bauer apparently was shunned by every major league team, so he’s signed a one-year deal with the Yokohama DeNA BayStars.

Before about 75 reporters in a Yokohama hotel, he slipped on the BayStars uniform – No. 96 – on Friday and said all the right things. Not a single Japanese reporter asked him about his suspension in the United States over domestic violence allegations or the reasons surrounding it.

The only question about it came from The Associated Press. Bauer disputed the fact the question suggested he was suspended from the major leagues.

“I don’t believe that’s accurate,” he said of the suspension. “But I’m excited to be here. I’m excited to pitch again. I’ve always wanted to play in Japan.”

He said the suspension dealt technically with matters of pay, and he said he had contacted major league teams about playing this year. He said he would have been eligible, but did not say if he had offers.

The 2020 NL Cy Young Award winner was released by the Los Angeles Dodgers on Jan. 12, three weeks after an arbitrator reduced his suspension imposed by Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred from 324 to 194 games.

The penalty followed an investigation into domestic violence, which the pitcher has denied.

Manfred suspended Bauer last April for violating the league’s domestic violence and sexual assault policy, after a San Diego woman said he beat and sexually abused her in 2021.

Bauer has maintained he did nothing wrong, saying everything that happened between him and the woman was consensual. He was never charged with a crime.

Bauer joined his hometown Dodgers before the 2021 season and was 8-5 with a 2.59 ERA in 17 starts before being placed on paid leave.

Bauer said his goal with the BayStars was to strike out 200 and keep his average fastball velocity at 96 mph – hence his uniform number. He said he is also working on a better change-up pitch.

He said he hoped to play by mid-April – about two weeks after the Japanese season begins – and said he has been training for the last 1 1/2 years.

“I’ve been doing a lot of strength training and throwing,” he said. “I didn’t really take any time off. So I’ve had a year and a half of development time. I’m stronger than ever. More powerful than ever.”

Yokohama has not won a title in 25 years, and Bauer said that was his goal in the one-year deal.

“First and foremost, I want to help the Stars win a championship,” he said. “That involves pitching well. That involves helping teammates and learning from them. If they have questions – you know – share my knowledge with them.”

He also repeated several times about his desire to play in Japan, dating from a collegiate tournament in 2009 at the Tokyo Dome. He said playing in Japan was on his mind even before winning the Cy Young – and also immediately after.

“The Tokyo Dome was sold out,” he said. “I’d never played in front of that many people – probably combined in my life. In the United States, college games aren’t very big, so seeing that amount of passion. How many people came to a college game in Japan. It really struck me.”

He said he’d been practicing with the Japanese ball, which he said was slightly softer with higher seams.

“But overall it just feels like a baseball and the pitches move the same. The velocity is similar. I don’t notice much of a difference.”

Other teams in Japan have made similar controversial signings before.

Former major league reliever Roberto Osuna – who received a 75-game suspension for violating MLB’s domestic violence policy – signed last season with the Chiba Lotte Marines.

He has signed for this season with the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks.

In 1987, Dodgers relief pitcher Steve Howe, who had a career plagued with drug problems, tried to sign with the Seibu Lions. But he did not play in the country after the Japanese baseball commissioner disqualified Howe because of his history of drug abuse.

Bauer was an All-Star in 2018 and went 83-69 with a 3.79 ERA in 10 seasons for Arizona (2012), Cleveland, (2013-19), Cincinnati (2019-20) and the Dodgers. He won the NL Cy Young Award with Cincinnati during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season.