Padres $340,000,000 star Fernando Tatis Jr. acknowledges 2023’s shortcomings, but vows to improve - "I've been weaker than I've ever been before"

The San Diego Padres season has gone just about as poorly as anybody could have imagined, and Fernando Tatis Jr. knows he could be better. After missing the end of 2022 and the start of 2023 due to suspension, Tatis is having one of his worst seasons. He is still playing well relative to the rest of the league, but not relative to his high standards.

Tatis is signed to a massive $340,000,000 contract, and there is a lot of pressure that comes with that. He needs to not only be one of his team's best players, but one of baseball's best as well. It is hard to do that when serving a suspension.

Dennis Lin of The Athletic shared the comments from the Padres superstar, which were shared on Twitter.

"It's proven – to be good at the game, you need to be playing the game. Simple as that," Tatis said. "You can't come out of nowhere and just be the same guy that you've always been. But I know for sure that next year is going to be a monster year, not only for myself but for the team. Definitely, I've been weaker than I've ever been before.".

The last line of that quote may catch the eye, considering Fernando Tatis Jr. was suspended for using performance-enhancing drugs. He denied ever using any banned substance, but this statement about being weaker certainly elicits certain thoughts. Regardless of the cause of the decline, it's a good sign that Tatis is still confident in the future.

Don't sleep on Fernando Tatis Jr. and the San Diego Padres in 2024

Despite floundering virtually all season, the Padres still have a lot of promise. Tatis Jr. is joined by other superstars like Juan Soto, Manny Machado and Joe Musgrove as leaders of the team. The amount of talent on the team simply feels like too much to be denied two years in a row.

Codify Baseball recently shared a statistic showing how the Padres' luck turned against them this season.

"Best record in one-run games in 2022: Padres (30-17). Worst record in one-run games in 2023: Padres (6-22)," Codify Baseball tweeted.

Assuming a return to form from Fernando Tatis Jr. and some of the other stars, the Padres should be a playoff team in 2024. Of course, this is exactly what was said in the lead-up to 2023, but what are the odds that happens twice?