Lightning Fernando Tatis Jr. Headlines August Monthly Awards Program

Chase Becotte

Published: Sep 13, 2020 09:00 am

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Even if it was all but a foregone conclusion, it’s still exciting to get Lightning Fernando Tatis Jr. in the August Monthly Awards program, especially since he’s “free” — continuing a trend that differs from prior years in Diamond Dynasty. Lightning Tatis Jr. is the main event, but this is a heftier program than I thought as well since we got seven other top players from August: Kyle Lewis, Max Fried, Teoscar Hernandez, James Karinchak, Brandon Lowe, Luke Voit and Jesse Winker.

August Monthly Awards Program

August Monthly Awards Program – Moments

Oca Go Bye Bye – 4 games
- Difficulty: Rookie
- Hit 3 home runs
How Lowe Can You Go – 4 games
- Difficulty: Veteran
- Tally 4 XBH
Luuuuuuuke – 5 games
- Difficulty: Veteran
- Tally 20 total bases
Louie V Smash
- Difficulty: Veteran
- Strike out 1 batter
Teo Calls Game
- Difficulty: All-Star
- Record 1 putout
- Do not give up 1 run
Unwritten For A Reason
- Difficulty: All-Star
- Record 1 putout
- Do not give up 1 run
Sweet N Lowe
- Difficulty: All-Star
- Record 1 putout
- Do not give up 1 hit
- Do not walk 1 batter
- Do not hit 1 batter
Fernandooo
- Difficulty: Veteran
- Tally 2 XBH
- Hit 1 HR

Each moment is worth either +2 or +3 points for the program. The moments total up to 20 points for the program.

August Monthly Awards Program – Missions + Collections

The moments here are worth +2 or +3 points (with one exception) and equal up to 72 points. The collection is worth 15 points, and the Monthly Awards players can be involved in the 35 players you need to collect between Topps Now and Monthly Awards.

Play 9 innings with Mariners
Tally 10 hits with Mariners
Tally 3 hits with Monthly Awards Kyle Lewis
Play 9 innings with Braves
Tally 10 strikeouts with Braves
Strike out 7 batters with Monthly Awards Max Fried
Play 9 innings with Blue Jays
Tally 5 XBH with Blue Jays
Record 2 XBH with Monthly Awards Teoscar Hernandez
Play 9 innings with Cleveland

Record 1 save with Cleveland
Strike out 3 batters with Monthly Awards James Karinchak
Play 9 innings with Rays
Tally 5 XBH with Rays
Hit 2 HR with Monthly Awards Brandon Lowe
Play 9 innings with Yankees
Hit 3 home runs with Yankees
Hit 2 home runs with Monthly Awards Luke Voit
Play 9 innings with Reds
Tally 10 hits with Reds
Tally 3 hits with Monthly Awards Jesse Winker
Play 9 innings with Padres
Hit 3 home runs with Padres
Exchange SEA, ATL, TOR, CLE, NYY, CIN and SD players (+10 points)
Collect 35 players from Topps Now July/August and Monthly Awards August (+15)

Goals/Rewards

Let’s go through the 7 players and the various Topps Now packs you get.

10 points – August Monthly Awards Kyle Lewis

Kyle Lewis can play all three outfield positions, and the big thing here is the 117 contact vs. right-handed pitching. He has a bit of a reverse platoon split going on where he hits for more power vs. LHP. This card doesn’t look like anything special to start it off.

15 points – Topps Now Opening Weekend choice pack (2 players)
20 points – August Monthly Awards Max Fried

Max Fried has a five-pitch mix with a 4-seam, curve, slider, sinker and change. The loopy curve might be able to throw some people off, but the clutch at 120 with 100 H/9 are the two elements here that are intriguing on top of a solid sinker.

25 points – Topps Now July 27-August 02 choice pack (2 players)
30 points – August Monthly Awards Teoscar Hernandez

Teoscar Hernandez can also play all three outfield positions, but he’s more just leaning on the hitting when compared to Kyle Lewis. Hernandez has 125 power vs. LHP to couple with 100+ ratings against RHP. He will probably settle in as a classic pinch-hitting option.

35 points – Topps Now August 03-09 choice pack (2 players)
40 points – August Monthly Awards James Karinchak

The rare middle relief card, James Karinchak has a 4-seam, 12-6 curve, curve and 2-seam. It’s a weird combination for a reliever, but maybe doubling up on both pitch types will help him stand out as something unique. He also has 125 K/9 and 121 H/9.

45 points – Topps Now August 10-16 choice pack (2 players)
50 points – August Monthly Awards Brandon Lowe

Brandon Lowe gets the 2B/LF defensive positions to go with 119 power vs. RHP and 125 power vs. LHP. This is big-time power for a middle infield option. On top of that, I just love Lowe’s swing and generally enjoy using him so I’m stoked for this card. The contact sitting in the mid 70s isn’t anything special, but I think he can overcome it sort of like the Flashback Dietrich.

60 points – Topps Now August 17-23 choice pack (2 players)
70 points – August Monthly Awards Luke Voit

Monthly Awards Luke Voit has been cruising up the charts and did make a push for Lightning as well, but he’ll settle in with “just” a 97 overall card. He has maxed out power from both sides of the plate and 112 contact vs. RHP. His stance can throw some people off a bit, but I’m a fan of it.

80 points – Topps Now August 24-30 choice pack (2 players)
90 points – August Monthly Awards Jesse Winker

Jesse Winker has insanely good hitting stats to offset the average fielding. He has 121 contact vs. RHP, 109 contact vs. LHP, maxed power vs. RHP and 110 power vs. LHP. The vision is low at 62 but otherwise this card is ready to pop off.

95 points – Night Lightning bat skin
100 points – Lightning Fernando Tatis Jr.

There he is. He’s worth the wait as Tatis Jr. has 119 contact vs. RHP, 90 contact vs. LHP, 125 power vs. RHP, 111 power vs. LHP and 125 clutch. He’s also solid across the board in every other way, including 84 speed with 81 stealing. As the final cherry on top, he also has positional versatility at 2B and 3B.

Prestige Fernando Tatis Jr.

There is also a Prestige program, much like there was last month for James Paxton. It is two parts where you first unlock Prestige Fernando Tatis Jr. via online missions, and then in the second part you use Prestige Fernando Tatis Jr. to get a Red Lightning bat skin via more online missions.

Missions (Part 1)