Yahoo Sports senior MLB analyst Jake Mintz and senior MLB analyst Jordan Shusterman discuss Chicago Cubs Kyle Tucker’s recent struggles and what the Cubs will do to get him back on track. Hear the full conversation on the “Baseball Bar-B-Cast” podcast – and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen.
View more
Advertisement
Video Transcript
This is not how the Kyle Tucker experience on the north side of Chicago was supposed to go.
It all came to a head over the weekend at the beginning of this week when Tucker was booed by the Wrigley Field faithful for yet another rollover to the right side.
And then on Monday, during a day game against the Brewers, after popping out, he slammed his helmet into the turf and was benched for game 2.
Kyle Tucker, we’ve just never seen him struggle like this, and this benching, while did come after he maybe didn’t run a ball out and is, you know, showing frustration.
Also seems to be very clearly like an opportunity for the Cubs to be like, hey, dude, like you need to take a step back because if we are going to have any chance of, of being a very relevant team into October, we need Kyle Tucker at our best and I don’t know how they’re gonna fix that in 1 day or 2 days off, but there seems to be something that needs to change because whatever has been happening with him recently is, is not even close to good enough.
Advertisement
A spiral like this, in my opinion, usually is a mechanical issue that balloons into a mental one.
Him having the expectations of being in Chicago, which, I mean, amazing player in Houston, was never his team at any point, was the expectation like Kyle Tucker needs to carry us.
In Chicago, it’s Kyle Tucker has to produce, he has to perform.
And I’m not saying that that’s gotten to him or it hasn’t gotten to him, but it is certainly a dynamic here that’s been at play.
He was doing it though.
I mean, that’s the thing.
It was happening, you know, those first two months, that, that, that was what made him so interesting regardless of the free agency.
Advertisement
It’s what you just laid out.
When you have hitters this good, you’re not saying, OK, you’re gonna go about 8.
We just had this conversation literally with Mookie, but about Mookie also, where it’s OK, it’s Mookie.
He bets.
I’m not gonna have him batting 8th.
He’s still gonna bat at the top, and I can understand people being like, no, he looks so bad, he doesn’t deserve to be batting up there.
Same thing with Kyle Tucker, they’re not going to move him that far down in the order.
But now, he’s been so bad that he’s been actively hurting the Cubs’ offense you’re hitting that many times.