What a difference a week makes.<\/p>\n
Flying to the West Coast and sweeping the Los Angeles Angels boosted the club\u2019s confidence and improved its chances of chasing down the Brewers. Over the weekend, Tucker had more home runs in three games at Angel Stadium (three) than he did the entire rest of August and July (one). After pressing pause, the Cubs believe something clicked.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe game gets going really fast when you play every day, especially when you start to struggle,\u201d hitting coach Dustin Kelly said. \u201cFrom the dugout, you start to see that it\u2019s really not that fast, and maybe you were speeding it up. You watch guys have at-bats and you\u2019re like, \u2018Oh, it\u2019s not moving quite as fast as it\u2019s moving for me.\u2019 It brings you back to a different perspective when you get back in that box.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt gives the guys a chance to take a breath and not feel like they have to go get ready for the game and compete. They can be a little more vulnerable in the cage and maybe do some things that they wouldn\u2019t normally do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tucker is regarded as a hitting savant, and that reputation goes beyond his individual numbers or accolades. He doesn\u2019t wear himself out before games, taking only as many swings as he needs to get the right feel. He\u2019s stubborn in the batter\u2019s box, hunting certain pitches, locations and opportunities to do damage.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe has a Rolodex of pitchers and shapes and speeds that he can almost pull up on command,\u201d Kelly said. \u201cIt\u2019s one of the unique traits that he has that makes him so great.\u201d<\/p>\n
Typically, that photographic memory and lack of emotion help Tucker gather information and avoid overreactions or too much tinkering. The Cubs used their extensive video system to pull up side-by-side comparisons of his positioning with the Houston Astros and what his left-handed swing looked like during the worst slump of his career.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat in the chain is breaking down?\u201d Kelly said. \u201cWhat do we attack first? You\u2019re always looking for the first domino that makes everything else kind of fall apart.\u201d<\/p>\n
The law of averages suggests that a player as accomplished as Tucker would not struggle forever. But there was still a sense of urgency. The Cubs have a finite amount of time before he can reach free agency, and their ceiling is much higher when he\u2019s at his best. Still, even the most confident hitters can get lost.<\/p>\n
The motions with Tucker\u2019s legs, and how he activated the lower half of his body, became the focus. It had created a flatness to a swing that\u2019s designed to launch balls in the air, and led to too many groundballs to the right side of the infield, or missed pitches that wound up in foul territory.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe would go back to certain pitches that he had hit in \u201821,\u201822,\u201d Kelly said. \u201cHe has an incredible recall of swings that he\u2019s taken off guys, and what type of pitches. (Tucker would say) \u2018This kind of reminded me of the pitch that I hit off (Aaron) Nola in the World Series.\u2019 We\u2019d go back and watch that very similar pitch and compare the moves.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tucker\u2019s visual learning is also paired with an easy way of engaging with teammates. As a group, the Cubs enjoy comparing notes on pitchers and what to look for in the next at-bat. In particular, Tucker watches left-handed hitters Pete Crow-Armstrong and Michael Busch to get a sense for the opponent\u2019s plan of attack.<\/p>\n
This is how hitting can become contagious, either energizing or deflating the lineup, depending on the results.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone pays attention to everyone\u2019s at-bats,\u201d Tucker said. \u201cWe do a really good job with the communication part to keep everyone locked in.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/GettyImages-2231914213-scaled.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
In three games against the Angels, Tucker tallied five hits, including three homers. (Luke Hales \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n
In working through these issues, the club and the player did not have a lot of shared history. The Cubs acquired Tucker in a blockbuster trade last offseason, knowing that the Astros would receive a ton of potential future value. Medical technology is also so advanced \u2013 and hitting major-league pitching is so hard \u2013 that it can create some gray areas.<\/p>\n
To his credit, Tucker kept playing with minimal interruptions after jamming his right ring finger on a headfirst slide at the beginning of June. That turned out to be his best month as a Cub so far (.982 OPS). Further testing showed a fracture that was already healing, but it\u2019s possible that compensating for that injury led to some subtle mechanical changes that eventually became counterproductive.<\/p>\n
The stakes are enormously high for Tucker, whose profile around the start of the season drew comparisons to Vladimir Guerrero Jr.\u2019s 14-year, $500 million contract extension with the Toronto Blue Jays.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think that the free-agent stuff has really affected the way that he goes out and plays baseball,\u201d Kelly said. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t affect the way that he interacts with our guys. He\u2019s in this 100 percent. He wants to win here. He wants to be here. And I don\u2019t think his mind ever gets to that: \u2018What if? Or how much? Or how long or where?\u2019 He\u2019s so locked in on helping us win tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n
After Monday\u2019s off day in the Bay Area, the Cubs will begin a three-game series against the San Francisco Giants on Tuesday night at Oracle Park. As much as the Cubs want to believe Tucker is back, and that their offense will finally start rolling again, it\u2019s still not as easy as flipping a switch.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe game doesn\u2019t grant you any favors,\u201d Counsell said. \u201cYou got to keep coming out and keep trying to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n
(Top photo: Luke Hales \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN FRANCISCO \u2014 In making the calculated decision to bench Kyle Tucker last week, Chicago Cubs manager Craig…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":112205,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[479,363,99],"class_list":["post-112204","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-chicago-cubs","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112204","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=112204"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112204\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/112205"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=112204"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=112204"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=112204"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}