Fernando Tatis Jr. has accomplished something no player in the history of Major League Baseball ever has. The San Diego Padres outfielder became the first player in MLB history to record 25 or more home runs after going homerless through his first 50-plus games of the 2026 season, a milestone confirmed by the San Diego Padres Media Relations department, per Elias.

Fernando Tatis Jr. Sets MLB Home Run Record After Historic Slow Start

The numbers require a moment to fully absorb. Through more than 50 games this season, Tatis had yet to leave the yard — not once. That is a stretch deep enough into a schedule that most power hitters would be in genuine trouble catching up to any meaningful home run total. Tatis did not catch up. He blew past any reasonable expectation and surpassed 25 home runs, a threshold no player had ever reached from that same starting point in the sport's recorded history.

What This Milestone Means

The historical weight here is significant. MLB has been played at the major league level for well over a century, across thousands of individual player seasons. The fact that no one had ever produced 25-plus home runs after a homerless stretch of 50-plus games — until now — speaks to how extraordinary this particular run of power hitting has been. This is not a category that was waiting for the right player. It is a category Tatis created.

What We Know

  • The milestone is multi-confirmed, sourced per Elias via San Diego Padres Media Relations.
  • Tatis went homerless through his first 50-plus games of the 2026 regular season before launching his power surge.
  • He has now recorded 25 or more home runs on the season, making him the first player in MLB history to reach that mark from those circumstances.
  • The confirmation was reported on Sunday, September 27, 2026, with the season still in its final stretch of the regular season schedule.

There is no precedent for what Tatis has done this year. The Padres are closing out the 2026 regular season with one of the most statistically singular power performances the sport has ever seen wearing a San Diego uniform.