He didn’t simply cease there, although. In latest weeks, Tatis has proven off a deep collection of Jordan cleats, in addition to some customized Travis Scott Nikes.
PHOENIX, ARIZONA – APRIL 21: Fernando Tatis Jr. #23 of the San Diego Padres wears customized Travis Scott impressed Nike cleats earlier than the sport in opposition to the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Subject on April 21, 2023 in Phoenix, Arizona.(Picture by Matt Thomas/San Diego Padres/Getty Photographs)Matt Thomas/San Diego Padres/Getty Photographs
The irony right here is that Tatis is sporting sick Nikes as a result of he was dropped by Adidas final summer season after getting popped for steroids. In a statement to ESPN, the model (which gave Tatis his personal signature shoe, the Extremely Increase DNA, in 2020) acknowledged, “We imagine that sport ought to be honest. We’ve got a transparent coverage on doping and might verify that our partnership with Fernando Tatis Jr. is not going to proceed.” He did have some enjoyable whereas dwelling the three stripes way of life, although. I personally am keen on the hot pink Adidas he laced up in 2021. (The person clearly loves pink.) However changing into a shoe free agent has opened up a complete new world for the Padres’ 24-year-old. He appears to be like nice each night time, possessing oodles and oodles of baseball swag that his friends can not compete with. Tatis is hitting fairly properly, too, already with 11 house runs by means of his first 42 video games.
Credit score can be grudgingly due right here to Main League Baseball loosening its restrictions on shoe colour forward of the 2019 season. Previous to 2019, the rules stated that 51 p.c of a participant’s cleat needed to be his workforce’s major colour, and alterations or illustrations of any type have been additionally not allowed. If that rule nonetheless utilized at present, Tatis could be compelled to put on cleats that have been a minimum of 51 p.c brown. That’d be…tough. Whereas the thought of a shoe inspector monitoring each participant and doing calculations on colour percentages is kind of entertaining, letting gamers primarily put on no matter they need is way more entertaining, and much more aesthetically pleasing. MLB adopting the method that’s lengthy been part of world soccer—the place it’s sometimes extra possible for a participant’s boots to be a very completely different colour scheme than their jersey—was a wise transfer for a sport that always skews extra stuffy and traditionalist.
As such, we’ve gotten some nice appears to be like from across the league, however Tatis particularly has knocked it out of the park. You may draw a straight line from the wardrobe guidelines changing into extra lax to the recent kicks that he appears to unveil with every new collection. The bar is admittedly low in MLB—a league crammed with gamers that appear to imagine including aptitude to their uniform is a few kind of affront to baseball—however amid his workforce’s early-season hunch, a minimum of Tatis has established himself as the very best on-field dresser within the sport.
