Fernando Tatis Jr., 27·San Diego Padres, stunned by 50 consecutive games without a home run, has now suffered massive financial losses after losing a lawsuit.
On the 24th (Korean time), the New York Post reported that the San Diego Superior Court dismissed the lawsuit Tatis Jr. filed against a prospect investment company. With the ruling finalized at the hearing on the 23rd, Tatis Jr. is now in a position of having to continue repaying tens of millions of dollars in debt, including $3.2 million unpaid and $240,000 in attorney expense from the arbitration award.
Before his major league debut, Tatis Jr. in 2017 signed with a company called the Big League Advance Fund (BLA). BLA is a prospect investment company that supports the development and financial stability of young players; it noticed Tatis Jr.'s potential at age 18 and advanced $2 million. In return, BLA was to receive 10% of Tatis Jr.'s future earnings.
Tatis Jr., who debuted in the major leagues in 2019, rose rapidly to finish fourth in the National League MVP voting in 2020, and in April 2021 he signed an ultra-long 13-year, $340 million extension with San Diego. From BLA's perspective, spending $2 million to earn $34 million represented a blockbuster investment return, but Tatis Jr. sued last June, claiming the contract was illegal.
At the time, Tatis Jr. described BLA as a predatory company and alleged that former major leaguer and CEO Michael Schwimer and company representatives targeted financially vulnerable, contract-inexperienced teenage players using cash as bait. According to the complaint, Tatis Jr. said he was deceived into signing with BLA during a dinner in 2017. He argued the contract was unfair because BLA did not disclose the nature of its business, the legal implications of the contract, or that it was not licensed as a lender in California or any other jurisdiction.
After filing the suit, Tatis Jr. said in a statement that this is not a fight just for him. He said he is fighting for all players who pursue dreams and want to provide better lives for their families. He added he wanted to help young players who do not know how to protect themselves from predatory lenders and illegal financial schemes.
But the court did not accept that. The court ruled that the arbitrator's decision was legally valid and dismissed Tatis Jr.'s lawyers' claim that the contract was illegal. Tatis Jr.'s legal team said they plan to appeal the ruling immediately.
The New York Post wrote that when Tatis Jr. signed the contract he was not San Diego's marquee star but a dazzling talent with a bright future. It said that anyone could tell he would someday be a star and that, given the unchecked contract sizes in a league without a salary cap, 10% of his future earnings would clearly be far more than the $2 million advance. It noted that he is the son of Fernando Tatis Sr., who played 14 seasons in the major leagues and earned more than $20 million in cumulative income, and questioned why his son would need a $2 million advance, casting doubt on the claim that Tatis Jr. was naive about the world when he signed the contract.
On top of already struggling at the plate, losing the lawsuit must be a severe shock for Tatis Jr. Though he has a blemish from testing positive for a banned substance, Tatis Jr. was once a power hitter with 152 career home runs through six seasons, including winning the 2021 National League home run title with 42. This season he is silent with 50 games and 214 plate appearances without a home run. Among 171 batters who have enough plate appearances, he is one of five with no home runs, making the home run king title seem hollow.
He consistently produces hard contact—his hard-hit rate of 54.7% ranks in the top 3% of the league—but his launch angle, which had been 12.5 degrees for his career, is only 1 degree now, as if he has completely forgotten how to lift the ball. His fly ball rate has fallen to 18.7%, below 24% for the first time in his career, and his ground ball rate has surged to fourth in the league at 54.7%. As a result, he has gone homerless with a .238 batting average (44 hits in 185 at-bats), a .319 on-base percentage, a .276 slugging percentage and a .595 OPS—career lows in every respect. It's all the more shocking that at the peak of his 20s and not injured, he shows no signs of a rebound through the first 50 games.
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