Fernando Tatís, Jr. (born January 1, 1975) is a Dominican former professional baseball player. Over his 11-year Major League Baseball (MLB) career, he played for the Texas Rangers, St. Louis Cardinals, Montreal Expos, Baltimore Orioles, and the New York Mets.
Cardinals Career
At 17 years old, Tatís was signed as an amateur free agent by Omar Minaya and the Texas Rangers on August 25, 1992. He played his first game in Major League Baseball with the Rangers, at third base, almost five years later on July 26, 1997, and went on to play 60 games with the Rangers in his rookie season. At the trade deadline on July 31, 1998, the Rangers traded Tatís along with Darren Oliver and Mark Little to the St. Louis Cardinals for Royce Clayton and Todd Stottlemyre.
Tatís had the best season of his career in 1999 with the St. Louis Cardinals. He hit 34 home runs with 107 RBIs and 21 stolen bases, with a .298 batting average. On April 23, 1999, Tatís made baseball history when he hit two grand slams in one inning. As of 2015, he is still the only batter to accomplish this. Tatís hit both of his grand slams against the pitcher Chan Ho Park of the Los Angeles Dodgers. With his home run feat, Tatís also set a Major League record with eight runs batted in during a single inning.
After playing in only 96 games for the Cardinals in 2000 because of an injury, Tatís was traded to the Montreal Expos along with Britt Reames for Dustin Hermanson and Steve Kline. Tatís played in just 208 games out of a possible 486 over three seasons with the Expos because of an assortment of physical injuries.
Lifetime Numbers
11 years in the MLB
Batting average .265
Home runs 113
Runs batted in 448