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<\/p>\nLOS ANGELES \u2014 Kyle Tucker choosing the Los Angeles Dodgers as his free-agent destination came with an added bonus suited to the four-time All-Star\u2019s lowkey temperament. Signing for the highest average annual value in baseball history will always generate at least some sort of attention, but sharing a lineup with three different MVP winners and several multi-time All-Stars means there is only so much air to go around to each.<\/p>\n
Tucker can blend in, which, by all accounts, he\u2019s done in the Dodgers\u2019 star-studded clubhouse. Not that Tucker is all that hyper-focused on maximizing his first impression anyway.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t try to do too much or try and do certain things,\u201d Tucker told The Athletic on Monday afternoon. \u201cI just try and be the same player every single time. Sometimes you have good games, sometimes you don\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Dodgers are not particularly concerned about Tucker\u2019s start to the season.<\/p>\n
The two-time Silver Slugger winner has hit just .246 with a .659 OPS through the first 15 games of his four-year, $240 million deal with the reigning back-to-back World Series champions. Tucker\u2019s struggles have compounded of late, including a series against the Texas Rangers where he went a combined 2-for-13.<\/p>\n
The Dodgers have still jumped out to an 11-4 start behind baseball\u2019s best offense in spite of Tucker being their least productive regular. While Tucker may not feel he\u2019s trying too much to make a good first impression, that\u2019s what the club is seeing.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think he\u2019s probably trying a little bit hard,\u201d hitting coach Aaron Bates told The Athletic. \u201cHe\u2019s just getting settled in a little bit. Everyone\u2019s always trying hard, so I don\u2019t want to say it that way, but it\u2019s more so (that he\u2019s) trying to force it, maybe force hits.\u201d<\/p>\n
What\u2019s most telling after 67 plate appearances is how un-Tucker-like he has looked beyond his batting line.<\/p>\n
Tucker is striking out 23.9 percent of the time, up from the 14.7 percent he averaged a year ago with the Chicago Cubs and the 15.9 percent he\u2019s averaged for his career. He\u2019s chasing more pitches \u2014 he\u2019s swung at 24.2 percent of pitches he\u2019s seen outside of the zone, which would be his highest full-season mark since 2022. He\u2019s making less contact, with that rate dropping from 82.1 percent in 2025 to 75 percent thus far in 2026.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s also just being more aggressive; his 53.6 percent swing rate would be the highest of his career. Tucker\u2019s aggression has played out from the start of every at-bat. Only Colorado\u2019s Ezequiel Tovar has swung at a higher percentage of first pitches (60.9 percent) than Tucker has (58.2), while only New York\u2019s Juan Soto has seen a higher year-over-year jump in that metric so far.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n An All-Star in 2025, Kyle Tucker has not looked the part so far in the 2026 season. (Harry How \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n
That is telling.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s getting out of his zone, I see,\u201d said manager Dave Roberts after Tucker went 1-for-5 with two strikeouts in Sunday\u2019s loss to the Rangers. \u201cAnd he\u2019s not a guy that typically chases down below, but he\u2019s chasing a lot more down below, for me.<\/p>\n
\u201cTypically when guys chase, they\u2019re trying to do a little bit too much.\u201d<\/p>\n
It remains a small sample. A particularly patient week at the plate could course-correct his underlying numbers. A solid series against the Mets, who were among the finalists for Tucker in free agency, could restore his numbers to a more respectable figure.<\/p>\n
Plus, this is not Tucker\u2019s first time trying to settle in with a new club. Tucker got off to a torrid start with the Cubs at the start of 2025, producing a .935 OPS in the game\u2019s first two months. He didn\u2019t miss a beat after his trade from the Houston Astros while looking, Bates said, \u201clike the best player in baseball.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOver the years, he\u2019s got a track record, so he kind of goes up and down,\u201d Bates said. \u201cHis routine is the same, he doesn\u2019t change much as far as that goes. He\u2019s meticulous about what he does. So it\u2019s one of those things where you don\u2019t want to overreact to something too soon, or you want to just kind of be there to support him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tucker is still trying to get a feel. Largely, he said, he\u2019s missing the pitches he should hit.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you get a hard pitch down the middle that you feel like you should have hit and your at-bat\u2019s already over with and you end up fouling it off, which happens at times throughout the year,\u201d Tucker said. \u201cIf it happens repeatedly, you just get into the count a little deeper in the at-bat.<\/p>\n
\u201c(If) I end up chasing, I probably felt like I should\u2019ve never been in that position anyways.\u201d<\/p>\n
Correcting that, Tucker said, means \u201cstaying through\u201d the baseball in his swing. Tucker has made an unorthodox swing work for him for years. Combine that swing being just a little bit off, along with an approach that is more aggressive than usual, and it\u2019s a recipe for what the Dodgers are seeing from Tucker right now.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you\u2019re in a little bit of a rut, that\u2019s what happens,\u201d Bates said. \u201cIt could be timing. It could be mechanical. It could be your approach. Then your approach can fix a physical mechanic sometimes, too. So it\u2019s kind of like the chicken or the egg.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Dodgers are still trying to figure out Tucker as he gets comfortable in his new surroundings. That means learning quirks. Bates said Tucker is \u201cmore talkative than people said he would be,\u201d while providing feedback as they work to dial things in for their newest star.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re just letting him get settled in and come to grips with that and not try to do too much at the plate. That\u2019s the biggest thing.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LOS ANGELES \u2014 Kyle Tucker choosing the Los Angeles Dodgers as his free-agent destination came with an added…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":583130,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[2323,363,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-583129","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-los-angeles-dodgers","9":"tag-mlb","10":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/583129","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=583129"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/583129\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/583130"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=583129"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=583129"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=583129"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}