Cubs take drastic step with Kyle Tucker as he hits rock bottom
Amid a horrible slump that has the Wrigley faithful booing him, the Cubs' prized offseason acquisition will likely sit for several games, according to manager Craig Counsell.
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Tucker last homered on July 19 and is hitting .171 with a .195 slugging percentage and .522 OPS over his last 102 plate appearances while the Cubs (70-54) have fallen out of the NL Central race.
He went 0-for-4 in Monday's 7-0 loss to the Brewers and heard boos in each of his last three at-bats, according to ESPN.
'Kyle's frustrated as well. The fans are frustrated, and Kyle is frustrated and it's unfortunate,' Counsell said. 'When you make outs, it doesn't look great, but he's trying, it's just not clicking. We're going to have to take a step back here, for sure, and just give him some days off to reset him hopefully.
3 Kyle Tucker is slumping.
AP
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'He's frustrated, and we're not coming up with solutions for him and he's not coming up with solutions. Sometimes, you have to take some steps back to go forward again.'
Counsell indicated the Cubs planned to sit Tucker for the nightcap of the scheduled doubleheader Monday, but bad weather postponed the second game and the teams will play two on Tuesday.
That the Cubs are considering such measures for one of the game's premier players shows how drastic his dip has been over the past month.
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Tucker owned a slash line of .281/.385/.504 with an .889 OPS after his last homer on July 19, but he now sits at .261/.374/.447 with an .821 OPS.
3 Kyle Tucker has not hit for power over hte past month.
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He has just two extra-base hits in his last 82 at-bats and five RBIs.
The fans showed their displeasure for Tucker's recent performance Sunday against the Pirates when he hit a grounder to first and did not run.
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Monday's game featured Tucker grounding out in his first three at-bats before flying out to end his day.
3 Kyle Tucker will be a top free agent this offseason?
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Tucker suffered a jam right ring finger in June but has said that's not affecting him, per ESPN, and Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer said before Monday's game that Tucker is healthy.
'It's not for lack of effort on either the coaching side or on Kyle's side,' Hoyer said. 'Yeah, he hasn't slugged in quite a while. The ball is not in the air, the exit (velocities) aren't high. I do think a lot of it is mechanical. If you look at his swing early in the year versus now, it's less connected and therefore less powerful.'
The Cubs have gone 13-15 in the second half while Tucker has struggled, but they are now nine games back of the red-hot Brewers in the division and five games clear of a postseason spot.
For the Cubs to make any type of postseason run, they'll need Tucker to return to form.
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Playing up to his capabilities would also help Tucker this offseason when he's a free agent since the outfielder is projected to receive a handsome contract.
'He's too good a player for it not to click,' Hoyer said. 'One of these days it's going to click and he's going to get hot again. Hopefully, it's a torrid-hot streak like it was in April.
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'I think everyone is seeing the same thing, including him, it's a lot of balls on the ground, there's not a lot of slug. He'll keep working to get there.'
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As Chicago Cubs' Kyle Tucker sits for a mental reset, the slumping slugger continues to search for answers
The quest to get Chicago Cubs slugger Kyle Tucker hitting like the version who was a catalyst for baseball's best offense the first three months of the season took another turn Tuesday. In an effort to give him a mental reset, Tucker was not in the lineup for Game 1 of Tuesday's doubleheader against the Milwaukee Brewers, and manager Craig Counsell was noncommittal about whether he would start Game 2. 'I think we all see the physical stuff, that's easy,' Counsell said Tuesday. 'It's a lot of ground balls and the mechanical struggles. But we've seen the mental struggle too, and sometimes it results in whatever, body language and things like that, that we see in each other when we're struggling as people and so we try to help, try to support, try to motivate in any way we can.' 'There's some time off, kind of get him away from the thoughts that he's having and maybe create some new thoughts, that's kind of the question I'm asking myself.' Since the All-Star break, Tucker owns a .182/.333/.239 slash line with just three extra-base hits and six RBIs. The Cubs are 12-14 in games Tucker starts during that stretch. 'Production-wise, not great,' Tucker said Tuesday. 'I mean, I'm just here trying to help the team win. I haven't really done a great job of that lately, so that part of it sucks. But I'm still rooting for everyone around here, and hopefully everyone has success throughout the rest of the year. So I'm just trying to help us win games. 'Our job's to go out there and play every single day and do the best we can. That's just what I'm trying to do. Obviously, it hasn't been great lately, but I'm trying to do my best and help our team win.' Tucker's pronounced offensive struggles over the last four weeks have seen the typically fly-ball hitter post a 46.5% ground-ball rate in his last 110 plate appearances (26 games) compared to a 30.7% GB% in his first 423 plate appearances (95 games). The longer the lack of production has trended — he is in the midst of the second-longest home run drought of his career — Cubs fans have more frequently directed boos toward Tucker, something he said Tuesday is 'fine, I've still gotta do my job, regardless of cheers or boos or whatever.' Cubs fans' frustration became particularly noticeable during Monday's 7-0 loss after Tucker half-heartedly, and on a delay, ran out a grounder in the fourth inning that Brewers first baseman Andrew Vaughn initially bobbled and dropped before making the unassisted out. 'It's kind of exhausting for I don't know how many times I've rolled over it to first or second,' Tucker said of the sequence. 'Regardless, you've still gotta run down the line whether you're out by 50 feet or not. It's just a little tough right now.' Tucker couldn't pinpoint a stretch during his career in which he's gone this long without being able to identify what's wrong mechanically. He's been looking at anything that could be impacting him, whether it's related to his swing path or timing. Part of the bubbling frustration: Tucker's approach has still been elite and he keeps putting himself in a good position to do damage. Even during this troublesome stretch, his 17.3% walk rate leads the Cubs and ranks fourth among the 174 qualified MLB hitters. Counsell pointed to Sunday's game against the Pittsburgh Pirates as an example of where the right process hasn't converted into results for Tucker. He got ahead 3-0 versus Pirates starter Carmen Mlodzinski, then took the next pitch and put himself into a fastball count. That was exactly what he got from Mlodzinski: a 96 mph fastball down the middle that Tucker again rolled over for a groundout to first base. 'Kyle is still doing a pretty good job of swinging at the right pitches and getting himself to the places he wants,' Counsell said. 'I thought the first at-bat Sunday was really the defining thing of what he's feeling. … Trying to put on the player hat a little bit is that you're like, 'I don't know why this keeps happening, I did exactly what I wanted to do for four pitches, did my job really well and got myself a pitch to hit and I got the same result.' 'It's not happening when he gets in the box and so there's separation of what he wants and what's happening, what he thinks he feels and what's happening, and you just try to keep working on that.' Tucker doesn't seem to think there is a lingering issue or impact from when he jammed his right index finger June 1 on a slide. Asked if he is dealing with any physical ailment that would be best served by a stint on the injured list, Tucker replied, 'No, I'm fine.' 'I mean, I've played for the most part every game this year so I'm fine going out there.' Tucker's impending free agency keeps creeping closer, a market that coming into the season was expected to be robust for the 28-year-old outfielder whose consistency became a staple of his success in Houston. Being this close to free agency, Tucker stated he doesn't care how this stretch could impact that right now. Tucker reiterated how he just cares about Tuesday's games and helping the Cubs win. As Tucker spent five minutes discussing his frustrating situation in the clubhouse Tuesday morning, a 'Jobu' figurine sat on a shelf in his locker behind him. 'Jobu' was memorably at the center of a locker shrine created by fictional hitter Pedro Cerrano in the movie 'Major League' to try to help him hit a curveball. Tucker figured maybe this version could help channel a change in his own mojo. 'It hasn't helped yet,' he noted.
