Where's Kyle Tucker? Right now, the Cubs need more impact from frustrated slugger

New York Times

6 hours ago

CHICAGO — Kyle Tucker is supposed to make the game look easy. It never is that simple, but he came to the Cubs with a well-earned reputation for being a low-key, maintenance star. When a smooth hitter with an even-keeled personality starts chucking his helmet and slamming his bat, you know the frustration is real.
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The clock is ticking on Tucker's time in Chicago, where the size of his next contract is no longer a constant topic of speculation. The Cubs stomached the cost to acquire Tucker in a blockbuster trade with the Houston Astros last offseason, knowing that he would become a free agent and sign with the highest bidder.
Unfazed by the adjustment period and a different kind of pressure, Tucker earned his fourth All-Star selection with a great first half that helped put the Cubs at the top of the National League Central. That now feels like a distant memory.
While the Milwaukee Brewers took over the division with a 14-game winning streak that ended Sunday, Chicago's offense fell into the same kind of deep spiral that dragged the past two seasons down and out of the playoffs. This was a moment that screamed for the presence of a World Series champion with natural confidence and loose energy.
Instead, Tucker's outward reactions after empty at-bats are symptomatic of a Cubs team that, at times, has looked tight or even lost.
'It just kind of happens,' Tucker said. 'Normally, I don't really show much emotion out there or anything. I just try to do my job. But it's been tough over the last two months or so. Just got to keep going.'
The crowds were restless this weekend at Wrigley Field, where fans booed Tucker during Sunday's 4-3 comeback victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates. That moment happened while the Cubs were down by one run in the sixth inning, when Tucker hit a groundball up the first-base line and did not move far from the batter's box.
Kyle Tucker was just boo'd after he grounded out to first and didn't run to first base. pic.twitter.com/4jVhi9z5yK
— Cubs Zone (@CubsZone) August 17, 2025
It really shouldn't be this difficult to beat a last-place team, especially after the trade deadline and without facing Paul Skenes. And it really doesn't matter how manager Craig Counsell organizes the lineup if the club's best hitters don't perform.
The Cubs don't have a more accomplished hitter than Tucker, whose left-handed power and all-around skills are projected to be worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
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Tucker, though, guessed that he hasn't struggled to this extent since his major-league debut in 2018.
'I don't know how long it's been since I hit a homer,' he said.
That would be July 19, the second game after the All-Star break.
'You miss pitches that you hit generally, and it makes you ask: 'Why am I missing those pitches?'' Counsell said. 'That's it. Because the plate discipline has been really strong still. But when you miss those pitches that you normally hit hard, hit far, you ask yourself: 'Why?' And I think that's what he's going through.'
Counsell downplayed Tucker's recent moments of frustration. You don't see it that often, Counsell said, because Tucker usually crushes those pitches.
'That's why I think it's very normal,' he said. 'I don't think it's something out of character. I think he's having a reaction to stuff.'
Just like any other player.
Except the Cubs expected a superstar-level performance for one season when they gave up 14 potential years of club control over Cam Smith, Isaac Paredes and Hayden Wesneski in a deal that did not neatly line up with the club's value-obsessed modeling system. For a front office under pressure to keep jobs and make the playoffs, it was a move to win now.
Since the start of July, Tucker has hit just one home run while his season OPS has dropped 104 points. In August thus far, Tucker has not produced an extra-base hit while his groundball rate this month has risen toward 50 percent.
It was noticeable when Tucker, who normally prefers to prepare in the batting cage with a shorter routine, took batting practice on the field last week before a game against the Toronto Blue Jays at Rogers Centre.
'I haven't really driven the ball great in the air,' Tucker said. 'I was just trying to get that feeling back, and trying to do it out on the field, where you have a visual of what it's going to be like in the game. You try to replicate that once the game starts. I had a few good swings out in Toronto that just didn't end up as a hit, but that's how baseball goes sometimes. You just try to battle through it.'
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Counsell hinted at some small adjustments to Tucker's mechanics and approach. A league source observed that Tucker's bat speed is slightly slower, creating a perception that he just doesn't look quite as comfortable in the batter's box or as ready to turn on inside pitches.
Tucker injured his right ring finger on a headfirst slide at the start of June, but that wound up being his best month (.982 OPS) to this point.
'We've played 120-ish games or whatever, so I'm sure everyone around the league is kind of banged up,' Tucker said. 'It's just kind of part of the job. It's what we get paid to come out here and do. You're trying to win games, whether you're banged up or not. It doesn't really matter. It's part of the game. You just got to keep going.'
The long track record shows that Tucker is one of the best hitters in the game and probably due for some better luck and a bounce back soon. Even with this downturn, Tucker was so good on the front end of the season that his overall production has been worth 4.4 bWAR this season, with an OPS+ that's still roughly 40 percent higher than average.
'There's a lot of trust in who the man is, and who the player is, that he's going to get it done,' Counsell said.
As the Brewers have demonstrated in so many ways, it's never a one-man show or not always about the biggest names. But Tucker's impact was obvious as the Cubs spent most of April, May, June and July in first place. Now they get five games against the Brewers in four days, starting with Monday's doubleheader at Wrigley Field, a chance to chip away at an eight-game division deficit and improve their wild-card chances.
'We still have a really good team,' Tucker said. 'Regardless of how the last couple weeks or whatever have gone, we're still in the playoff hunt right now, and in a playoff (spot) currently, so we don't change our course just because we lose a few games here or there. Our goal is to grind out the season and get to the playoffs and try to win from there.'
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