Over the years, El Paso has seen many top baseball prospects play at either Dudley Field, Cohen Stadium, and Southwest University Park. Future big leaguers like Carney Lansford, Greg Vaughn, Rod Barajas, Chris Bosio, Dan Plesac, and Teddy Higuera all called El Paso home. Over the last four plus years, many of the current San Diego Padres have played in a Chihuahuas uniform. However, not since Gary Sheffield spent the 1988 season with the Diablos has El Paso been anticipating an arrival of a top flight prospect like Fernando Tatis Jr.

The son of the 11-year big league third baseman has been rocketing through the Padres minor league system since San Diego acquired him the June 2016 trade that sent James Shields to the White Sox. Yesterday, Tatis went 2-5 in the MLB Futures Game along with a cannon for an arm. Here is video that Baseball America shared of Tatis taking batting practice prior to yesterday's game.

Currently playing in Double-A San Antonio, Tatis is hitting .289 with 15 home runs and 42 RBIs. The Padres have never hesitated to challenge their best prospects, and it is only a matter of time before Tatis gets promoted to El Paso. The Chihuahuas have spent all season playing Javy Guerra at shortstop, but the 22-year old is hitting just .200. Guerra, who was acquired along with Manny Margot, Carlos Asuaje, and Logan Allen in the 2015 off-season trade with Boston for Craig Kimbrel, has not performed up to expectations since he tore up the Sally League three years ago. Meanwhile, Freddy Galvis signed a one-year deal with the Padres and is hitting .228 this season. He is keeping the shortstop position in San Diego warm for Tatis, who is viewed by many as a cornerstone talent for a franchise in dire need of one.

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