Tatis intends to play for DR at WBC

Fernando Tatis Jr. wants in on the World Baseball Classic.

The San Diego Padres star tells The Athletic's Dennis Lin that he intends to play for the Dominican Republic at next spring's triennial event.

“It’s a matter of me staying healthy the rest of the season, putting everything that’s more important in front, and then we’ll see how that goes," Tatis said, noting that nothing is yet official.

Tatis's father, former Montreal Expos infielder Fernando Tatis Sr., will serve as the DR's hitting coach under Albert Pujols.

Tatis was set to play in the 2023 WBC, but he was suspended after a positive test for Clostebol in August of 2022 and the ban continued into April of 2023 that rendered him ineligible.

The 26-year-old right fielder says watching his father play in the 2009 tournament made it a dream of his to one day play in it himself.

“It was just a great group that was out there, and just being surrounded by those players, the aura that you feel in the moment is just unique,” Tatis told Lin. “And how you saw them talking, having fun, hitting together, bulls-----ing together, it’s why you play this game."

Tatis is in his sixth big league season and both he and the 14-3 Padres are off to a hot start.

Through 16 games, Tatis is batting .361 with 22 hits, a league-leading six home runs, 12 runs batted in and a 1.101 OPS.

The Padres, winners of five straight, continue a three-game set against the Chicago Cubs (11-8) on Tuesday night.