Padres star Fernando Tatis Jr. leaves game with apparent shoulder injury

Padres shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr. left Friday night's game after sliding into third base and seemingly re-injuring his left shoulder, according to Dennis Lin of The Athletic.

There isn’t any word yet on the severity of the injury. But this is an issue that has been bothering Tatis on an on-and-off basis for the entire season. It first flared up in March, before the season even began. Tatis then appeared to re-aggravate the issue, landing on the IL April 6. Thankfully, he was reactivated after a minimum 10-day stay on April 16. But then on June 19, Tatis was again removed from a game with what seemed like another shoulder injury. Although, Padres manager Jayce Tingler later said that the move was precautionary, and Tatis did not end up going back on the IL.

Losing Tatis for any amount of time would be a serious blow to the Padres. They are currently holding down the last playoff spot in the National League, but the Reds are nipping at their heels, just 4.5 games back. The calendar will flip over to August on Sunday as teams will be trying to make their final pushes for the postseason. Tatis has been superb this year, despite dealing with this ongoing injury. He’s produced a 165 wRC+ on the season so far on his way to accruing 4.7 fWAR, easily the best on the team. Tatis and Padres fans will surely be hoping this is just another precautionary measure.