@brownsonjacob2 Is Kyle Tucker pressing? Almost certainly. The underlying numbers back this up, but the bigger picture isn't as concerning as it may look. @JeffSpiegel highlights the following below: Whiff rate: 20.2%->27.1% Chase: 17.6%->24.2% First pitch swing: 36.3%->58.2% Swing: 45.2%->53.6% That jump in first-pitch swing rate stands out the most. It’s the second-largest increase in MLB from 2025 to 2026, trailing only Juan Soto. That alone tells you this is likely a shift in approach. Being aggresive isn't inherently bad, but it's causing Tucker to get behind in counts at an alarming rate. His First Strike % in 2026 is 74.6% (+18.3), meaning Tucker is down 0-1 in a concerning amount of at bats. Why does this matter? Count leverage is EVERYTHING. This was how Tucker faired after 0-1 counts compared to 1-0 in 2025: 0-1: .232 AVG 22.6% K% .730 OPS 107 wRC+ 1-0: .279 AVG 11.1% K% .920 OPS 158 wRC+ Even though Tucker is being more aggressive early in counts, it isn’t putting him in better situations. Instead of getting ahead, he’s often falling behind 0-1, where pitchers gain control of the AB and can expand the zone. That shift in count leverage is a big reason why his production has taken a hit. Here’s the part that's important for avoiding overreaction: The spike in early swings isn’t caused by reckless chasing. A big part of it is that pitchers are simply attacking him more aggressively with first pitch strikes. The image below shows every first pitch strike against Tucker this season. Pitchers are controlling the ABs by throwing strikes early. That dynamic is unlikely to hold forever. Pitchers rarely maintain that level of first-pitch strike frequency against elite hitters over a full season. As that normalizes, Tucker should naturally find himself in more hitter-friendly counts again without needing a dramatic adjustment. Tucker does look like he’s pressing a little bit. His approach has clearly shifted toward early aggression, and it’s putting him in more disadvantageous counts. But this isn’t a broken hitter. It’s a combination of slight over-aggression and pitchers exploiting it temporarily. As the league adjusts back (and Tucker inevitably does too), the underlying talent should reassert itself, and the results should follow.
@SleeperDodgers Kyle Tucker last 7 games: .200 AVG .523 OPS 0 HR 4 RBI It’s been a slow start for Kyle Tucker, no doubt— but I still believe he’ll turn the page and put together an All-Star caliber season; it’ll just take some time.
Not that I want him back instead, but I believe Conforto was better comparatively at this point last year.
at least he hustled and made some decent plays on defense if sucker is a gg out fielder i sure don't see it at the plate he has little to no discipline my Cub friend said he was baffled at how he was so sought after as well only 4 years more of it
Guy Tucker looks as average as every 34 B cup cheerleader I want to high school with. I feel the same way when he comes up AB as I do when Teo does. And they both field out there like the duflus twins. I thought we had a good RF, for a while anyway. He was that guy who is always sick or/and injured right ? I saw him a while back, I think. What happened ? Where did he wind up? Dodgers get the two big mega signings in the off season...and where are they now ?
I'd like to believe that he's too good a hitter to continue at this paltry production rate. I'm holding on to that for now. That doesn't mean I don't have concerns. After a great start to 2025, he really faded in the second half. From OPS of .935, .882, and .982 in April, May, and June, respectively, he finished with .675, .735, .516 in the final three months. So his .705 OPS so far this year seems to be a continuation of a decline that started last July. In theory, his numbers should be even better now with Ohtani hitting in front of him and any of Betts, Freeman, and Smith behind him. He should be getting good pitches to hit. Hopefully the Dodgers didn't buy a broken product. For one thing, he swings at more first pitches than anyone in the NL other than Ezequiel Tovar. If that was working for him, it'd be understandable. But it's not really the Dodgers M.O. as they're usually pretty good at working pitch counts. Maybe pitchers have come to know this about him and look to give him something they know he'll swing at early, but not very hittable. I don't have stats on that, just speculating. I wish he'd be more selective though, and maybe later in the count he'd get better pitches. When we signed him I assumed he'd opt out after two. Now I'm starting to hope we're not stuck with him for four. It IS still early though.
i'd feel a lot better if it seemed like there was some kind of fire burning in him so far he's whiffing like cody used to at low and outside and walking away like andrew jones used to no change of expression on his face and zero hustle at his position not getting good jumps or taking good routes like i was expecting almost like he's cruising on reputation and as nice as the rest of the guys are they compete still even if that does bubble over what do you do w him and what was the FO thinking?
Kyle Tucker last 500 Plate Appearances .238/.342/.381 Slash Line .723 OPS 108 WRC+ 11 HRs 1.7 fWAR This is the Highest Paid Position Player in Major League Baseball. ^ having problems with Twitter/X right now, so this was transferred manually
I wanted Bichette over Tucker. In reality, Bichette has been even worse. But the financial commitment would have been less, both in dollars and years, and an argument could be made that his blockage of prospects would have been less impactful. There was so much press over these two guys in the offseason and it turns out that neither is helping the team that drafted him. I cringed when the Dodgers announced the terms of that contract. I just hope somehow Tucker figures it out and goes on a tear and opts out after next season. That appears to be quite the pipe dream right now. Eating a big part of the remaining contract at some point seems inevitable.
they'll need to eat a lot of that contract or trade off the youth being blocked by it. guess nobodies perfect but this one truly defies reason. losing the money seems the least unsavory but as @THINKBLUE said its not our money. so unnecessary. why not just bring up a kid a moment early and let him develop like Pages? weird
I'm not worried about him nearly on the same level as Mookie I worry more about Will Smith far more than Tucker, 31 yo catcher with a lot of mileage on him Tucker, for me, has just been a disappointment thus far but I don't worry about whether or not he'll figure it out It's just a matter of time As far as the prospects go, we all know far more fail than succeed, even if they are highly touted I expect one of the big four OFs (De Paula, Sirota, Hope, Quintero) to be good to great while the others prove, over their career, to not be good enough to warrant a spot on the Dodgers 26-man I'd love to be wrong about that De Paula is the guy I'd never give up in a trade unless he was part of a Bobby Witt Jr. trade, probably because I still think about Yordan Alvarez for Josh Fields about once a week My guess is Tucker is here for two more seasons then opts out before the year 4
@SleeperDodgers Kyle Tucker on the road this season: .287 AVG .475 SLG .850 OPS 4 HR 22 RBI Gotta start telling him every game is an away game I guess. what a fkag should let ward start every home game
For comparison, his home stats this season: .184 AVG .289 SLG .580 OPS 1 HR 10 RBI 69 wRC+ His total career stats, home and away combined: .270 AVG .497 SLG .853 OPS 135 wRC+ His road stats are very similar to his average career stats but his home stats this year are worst player in baseball bad.
@TheFanLA @DMAC_LA@sportsreiter: "If I'm Kyle Tucker, the thing that I think would turn his season around would be to embrace the LA media, the LA fan base..." Can you win over LA if you’re "hiding" from the fans and media?
