‘Hopefully I Can Give This City Multiple Championships’

San Diego’s 22-year-old superstar discussed not doing the home run derby, growing up around major leaguers and how he and his team have a surprisingly old-school approach.

Like all transcendent performers, Fernando Tatis Jr. has standards. When he is on stage, he knows only one way to act. So when Tatis, the dazzling shortstop for the San Diego Padres, considered whether to participate in the All-Star Home Run Derby in Denver on July 12, he knew he had to decline; he cannot risk aggravating the shoulder he dislocated in April. “I feel like if I go out there, I’m not going to hold myself back,” Tatis said on Friday. “If I do it, I want to give a real show.” Tatis was speaking by phone from the clubhouse at Petco Park before the Padres played the Arizona Diamondbacks. He then went out and staged a personal home run derby, belting three in his first three at-bats in an 11-5 victory, the eighth win in a row for San Diego. The homers brought his N.L.-leading total to 25, to go with 54 runs batted in, a .294 average and 15 stolen bases. (And a major league-high of 16 errors.)