By this point in the season, Kyle Tucker knew to not read too much into anything he did on Monday in the Dodgers’ 4-3 win over the Tampa Bay Rays.
He recognized the night for what it was.
A good game.
A series of good at-bats.
A good defensive play.
Nothing else.
He’d been fooled by moments like this before, tricked into thinking his season was about to turn around.
“And then,” Tucker said, “I’m back to square one.”
So in the wake of a 2-for-4 performance in which he homered and threw out a baserunner at home from right field, Tucker kept the night in perspective.
“I just gotta try and do it again tomorrow,” Tucker said.
He continued, “It can work for one at-bat or two at-bats or something, but just gotta make it consistent. Play so many games and have so many at-bats, so having one at-bat go your way is fine, it’s great, but you just gotta try and come back and do that every single time.”
His failure to sustain his positive moments are reflected in his numbers.
In his first 69 games with the Dodgers, Tucker is hitting a career-worst .239 with six home runs and 39 runs batted in.
This wasn’t what the Dodgers envisioned when they signed Tucker to a four-year, $240-million contract over the winter.
This wasn’t what Tucker envisioned either.
His left-handed swing was compared in the past to Ted Williams’, but the only version of Ted Williams he has resembled since his move to the Dodgers is the one that is cryogenically frozen in an Arizona facility.
A four-time All-Star, the 29-year-old Tucker started the season as the Dodgers’ No. 2 hitter. His underwhelming offensive form in the first three weeks of the season prompted manager Dave Roberts to move him into the cleanup spot. Over the last three weeks, Tucker has usually batted fifth or sixth.
Tucker sounded mystified when reflecting on the last 2 ½ months.
“I’ve tried basically everything,” he said. “Just sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.”
He said he isn’t feeling the weight of his $60-million-a-year deal or his move to a new market.
“Obviously, love to figure it out from at-bat one till the end of the year but doesn’t always work out like that,” he said.
Have there been any stretches this season in which Tucker felt right?
“Maybe an at-bat or two, or like one game it felt fine or something, but not for a long duration of games,” he said. “I’ve had some at-bats where I’m like, ‘Oh, like that was good, hopefully, it’ll translate for the next at-bat or the next game,’ and it doesn’t.”
His frustration was most visible in the final week of last month. Tucker took batting practice on the field, which he rarely does. The usually-expressionless player slammed his helmet after one particularly frustrating at-bat.
“He cares,” Roberts said.
Roberts said he was encouraged by how Tucker seemed to open up more in recent weeks.
“He’s just having more conversations,” Roberts said. “He’s a quiet guy by nature. When you’re kind of internalizing everything and taking that on yourself, all on yourself, that’s tough. But just laughing and joking with the guys just kind of loosens him up a little bit.”
Tucker said he has worked on his bat path, which he described as “just kind of been all over the place” this season.
“Today felt really good,” he said. “Was actually really consistent in the cage and everything that I wanted so I was hoping that it would translate once I got out there, and it felt a lot better, just kind of overall throughout the whole game, every at-bat. “
In his first at-bat, he launched a changeup from Rays starter Nick Martinez over the right-field wall. In his second, he singled to right field.
Between the two hits, he fielded a third-inning single by Ben Williamson and delivered a strike to catcher Dalton Rushing to throw out Jonathan Aranda at the plate.
The performance was a reminder of why the Dodgers invested as much in Tucker as they did.
“When it’s clicking,” Roberts said, “he’s one of the better players in the game.”
Considering there are 162 games in a baseball season, did Tucker think it was just a matter of time that he’d break out of this slump?
“You’d hope,” he said.
He said he knew what he had to do.
Return the next day. Try to have another good series of at-bats, another good game.
“Just gotta grind through it,” he said.
