Jurickson Profar reveals Fernando Tatis Jr.'s father's peculiar approach to player training

Outfielder Jurickson Profar, who had the best season of his MLB career last year, spoke about how Fernando Tatis Jr.'s father helped him improve his hitting. The 31-year-old has joined signed a three-year, $42 million deal with the Atlanta Braves after spending last season with the San Diego Padres.

Profar named Tatis Sr. as the person to who helped him change his game last year and how he did it [2:36 - 4:22]:

"I love talking hitting, and I love getting better. So I put a lot of work in in the offseason last year, and I took it to Spring Training.

"I was working with Tatis Sr. in the offseason, and obviously Tatis Jr. too. We work out together in the offseason, and then in Spring Training we're always together talking hitting and trying to get each other better.

"Obviously he (Tatis Sr.) played, but he just keeps it simple. He's always joking around that he retired just when he was starting to go up. Just when he learned it, he retired. He's always joking about that; he retired smiling."

Since starting his major league career with the Texas Rangers in 2012, Jurickson Profar has played for several MLB teams in the past decade. However, he put up the best numbers of his career last year, during his second stint with the San Diego Padres.

Most notably, Jurickson Profar changed his batting stance during the offseason last year, which resulted in an increase in output from home plate. He made big changes to his lower body, with an opened stance and a leg kick, which saw his exit velocity go through the roof.

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Jurickson Profar admits that Padres ownership issues influenced his decision to join the Braves

Since former San Diego Padres owner Peter Seidler died in November 2023, there have been rumors of turmoil within the family, which has affected the team. His widow, Sheel Seidler, filed a complaint against her brothers-in-law Matthew and Robert Seidler for "irreconcilable conflicts of interest."

In a call with the media, new Atlanta Braves star Jurickson Profar admitted that the current state of the club's ownership influenced his decision not to return:

“Obviously the Padres have some issue with the ownership and all that,” Jurickson Profar said. “It was difficult to go back (to San Diego), but Alex (Anthopoulos) showed a lot of interest in me, and I loved that."

Earlier this month, Japanese ace Roki Sasaki also chose to sign with the Dodgers over the Padres and later cited LA's strong ownership as one of the reasons he chose them. This dispute amongst the ownership has clearly hampered their ability to sign players in the offseason and will continue to do so until it's settled.