Kyle Tucker insists he hasn’t been pressing in the opening weeks of his debut Dodgers season.
His slow start to the year, he told The California Post on Monday, has simply been because his swing is a little off.
“I’ve missed some pitches that I feel the at-bat should have been over with,” Tucker said. “Then you just get deeper into counts. And then whatever happens after that, happens.”
Such was the simple explanation the four-time All-Star cited to explain some early uncharacteristic numbers.
Entering Monday, Tucker was batting just .246 through the season’s first 15 games, second-lowest on the club among hitters with at least 50 plate appearances. He had just one home run, nine RBIs and a below-league-average .659 OPS despite still reaching base more than one-third of the time.
More surprising were Tucker’s strikeout and swing-and-miss totals, both of which have been noticeably higher than his career-long averages.
With 16 strikeouts in 67 trips to the plate, Tucker has a K-rate of nearly 24%. Over his previous five seasons, it has never been higher than 16%.
Tucker’s plate discipline metrics are also atypical. He is swinging more often (53.6% this year, compared to 41.2% for his career), chasing out of the zone more frequently (24.2% this year, compared to a 17.6% rate the past two seasons combined), and whiffing at an above-league-average rate (27.1%, compared to his 20.4% career rate) –– all of which run counter to his reputation as a contact-minded, selective-swinging, on-base machine.
Because of all that, manager Dave Roberts was asked Sunday whether he felt the team’s new $240 million signing was pressing.
He didn’t exactly say no.
“I think there’s a little bit to that,” Roberts said. “That’s kind of what I see. Typically when guys chase, they’re trying to do a little bit too much.”
Tucker, however, offered a different theory behind the numbers –– which, admittedly, have come in a minuscule 2 ½ week sample size.
Because his swing has been a little off, he feels like he has missed more hitable pitches than usual, leading to more foul balls and deeper pitchers’ counts.
Indeed, Tucker’s foul ball rate is slightly up this year (43% now, compared to 40% last year). His 60 foul balls are also the ninth-most in the majors.
As a result, he said, he has found himself behind in more of his at-bats, forcing him to expand the strike zone and chase pitches –– especially below the strike zone –– he’d probably lay off more easily otherwise.
“I mean, if I did what I wanted to do from the first swing, putting it in play, I don’t think I’d be swinging as much,” he said. “When you’re swinging at strikes and putting a barrel on the ball and staying through the ball well, better outcomes happen. But I kind of cut my swing off a little bit, don’t really stay through it great, and then you start fouling pitches off and chasing some later in some counts. That’s where a lot of the extra swings come from.”
Thus, Tucker is focused on one priority at the plate right now: Trying to hit the ball to center more often, and find a feel that will get his non-traditional swing back in sync.
“It’s just trying to make sure your hands and everything are staying through the ball, rather than cutting across and over,” he said. “That’s when you start getting more foul balls and you start top-spinning balls to right, or getting more ground balls. But if you’re able to stay inside and through the ball a lot better, it starts getting better backspin and you drive the balls to the outfield a lot better.”
In other words, Tucker believes his underwhelming start has been more mechanical than mental –– downplaying the pressure that has come with playing for the two-time defending champion Dodgers, and under the spotlight that accompanied his record-setting contract this winter.
“I play the same regardless of whatever is happening around me,” he said. “The fans make coming to the field a lot of fun. The guys make coming to the field every single day a lot of fun. So it’s been great.”
So too, he said, has been hitting in the Dodgers lineup, where he plays the important role of protecting leadoff man Shohei Ohtani from the No. 2 spot.
“Even if we’re not hitting great that day,” he said, “we always have the potential to put up a big inning.”
The Dodgers have a similar hope with their newest superstar, confident that even though he’s not hitting great now, he’ll inevitably break out at the plate soon.
