Major League Baseball has been calling for a trailblazing superstar to get public attention since Derek Jeter hung up his cleats in 2014. Pretenders have come and gone to the throne, but the answer could be a 21-year-old Dominican who prefers icy dreadlocks, flashy socks, mirrored sunglasses, and unbuttoned tops and can’t stop dancing or smiling at the diamond.
Fernando Tatis Jr. has played less than a full season of MLB games, but he may already be the most exciting player in the sport. He is now taking Jeter’s shoes off the field as the latest athlete on the sponsorship list at Gatorade, where he will launch the brand’s Bolt24 product line with a multi-year deal.
“We are proud to partner with championship-level athletes and children’s ambitions,” said Jeff Kearney, Gatorade’s global director of sports marketing. “Bolt24 is breaking some new rules for us, and Fernando is someone who writes his own rules.”
Tatis, whose father played in MLB for 11 years, joins NBA star Damian Lillard and up-and-coming golfer Matthew Wolff as Bolt24 athletes. Other brands from Tatis Jr include Adidas, Hyperice, Mizuno gloves and Victus bats. Gatorade, owned by PepsiCo, has partnered with several regional baseball players, but Tatis joins Jeter and Bryce Harper as the only players with national agreements.