Tatis has subluxated left shoulder

Fernando Tatis, Jr., left last night’s game with an injury against the San Francisco Giants that has been announced as a subluxation of his left shoulder. The San Diego Padres star fell to the ground after swinging and missing at a 2-2 pitch in the third inning, and ended up leaving the game.

A shoulder subluxation is a partial dislocation of the shoulder, where the head of the shoulder bone comes partway out of the “cup-like socket” that makes up the other half of the shoulder joint. Tatis has apparently dealt with shoulder pain throughout his career dating back to rookie ball, so this sounds like a chronic issue he and the Padres may simply have to do their best to manage going forward.

Per the link, Padres manager Jayce Tingler said he believed that Tatis got his shoulder popped back into place in the clubhouse. The question at this point is going to be whether Tatis will be able to return to the field right away, or if the Padres’ medical team determines he needs to rest and immobilize the shoulder before he returns to action.

Since it is his left shoulder and not his throwing shoulder, there is a bit of good news here, or at least a “it could be worse” element to it. Still, this isn’t the type of thing that the Padres — or baseball in general — wants to see, given Tatis is already, at age 22, one of the best players in the game.