Giants minor leaguer takes shot at Padres' Tatis on social media

A Giants minor league pitcher called the Padres' Fernando Tatis a “cheater” on social media after the suspended star took the pitcher deep in a Triple-A game.

Kade McClure, a righthanded pitcher with the Sacramento River Cats, gave up a booming homer on Wednesday night to Tatis, who is playing with El Paso as he finishes serving his 80-game suspension for using performanceenhancing drugs.

McClure took umbrage with a tweet that said he would “be telling people for years about the time he gave up an absolute nuke” to Tatis, quote-tweeting that tweet and the video of the homer, with the caption: “**cheater hits a homerun on a rehab assignment during a steroid suspension**.”

McClure's late Wednesday night tweet went viral before he deleted it on Thursday afternoon, garnering more than 2,500 retweets and 15,000 likes. He also had more than 2,300 replies to his tweet, with former 49ers safety Tony Jefferson chiming in to tell McClure, “you got bombed on. Stop cryin.” McClure also deleted a tweet where he said he “woke up to some juiced Padres fans” on Thursday morning.

Tatis didn't play at all in the 2022 season for the Padres after he hurt his wrist during the 2021-22 lockout in what Padres general manager A.J. Preller alluded to as a motorcycle accident.

Just as his wrist was nearly healed, MLB suspended Tatis 80 games on Aug. 12 after he tested positive for Clostebol, an anabolic steroid. He missed the rest of the 2022 season and has to miss the first 21 games of this season, though he's allowed to play in the minor leagues while his suspension is ongoing.

McClure, 27, was originally drafted in the sixth round by the White Sox in 2017 and was in Chicago's organization until this past offseason. The Giants traded for McClure on Dec. 22, 2022, sending Gregory Santos to the White Sox in exchange.

In 2022, McClure had a 4.97 ERA and 96 strikeouts in 87 innings with Triple-A Charlotte. In two outings with Sacramento in 2023, he's allowed four runs in five innings on 10 hits, with the lone homer allowed coming off the bat of Tatis.