ESPN’s Eduardo Perez apologizes for yesterday’s Fernando Tatis Jr. comment

If you were caught by surprise when ESPN’s Eduardo Perez verbally attacked Fernando Tatis Jr. during Sunday Night Baseball, you weren’t the only one. It was a comment that wasn’t needed and Perez received a ton of blowback after his comment made the rounds on social media.

Perez made this comment directed at the 24-year-old after Mookie Betts homered off of Josh Hader despite Tatis not even being involved in the play.

Perez went on MLB Network Radio earlier this morning to apologize for what he said: “As soon as I said it, I cringed...Immediately I was going to say ‘this is what superstars look like’. That’s what I was going to say but it wasn’t that I was carried away in the moment, it’s that you look at the screen because you’re trying to see and follow where the director is going as well. By coincidence it popped up that it was Fernando Tatis Jr. that popped up on the screen. It could’ve been anyone else. It could’ve been Jake Cronenworth. It could’ve been Manny Machado. It could’ve been anyone. It could’ve been Dave Roberts and I said ‘Nando, this is what superstars look like’ and I cringed a little bit,” Perez said.

“I own it 100% because I saw the replay later on when I got here and I cringed and I’m going ‘Dang, that sounded terrible’ so...this is one that I’ll have to also apologize to the player because that’s not right...and that’s not who I am and that’s not how I sound professionally on air—if it’s on radio or not—I try to always come through and there was no reason to make it singled out that way but I said it. I own it and it sounded that way even though the intention wasn’t that way...”

The apology seemed sincere so props to him for that but Padres fans are always going to remember what he said.

The Padres don’t have another scheduled Sunday Night Baseball broadcast at least through August 20, according to ESPN.