Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Kyle Tucker was benched on Thursday, August 27th for the season finale against the Atlanta Braves.
Tucker has been doing everything he can to break his season-long slump, including changing his pregame routine and hitting batting practice on the field.
However, things haven’t gone well for Tucker over the past month, though he is hardly the only one struggling.
Still, Tucker was left out of the series finale against the Braves as the Dodgers faced a lefty, and Roberts wanted to give his team a spark by shaking up the order.
“Today I didn’t want to feel like I’m piling on against a really tough starter,” Roberts said. “And get him ready for the weekend.”
Alex Call stepped into his place, but it didn’t do much good, as the entire Dodgers team was shut out by ace Chris Sale, and Tucker only stepped in to make a pinch-running cameo.
Roberts still believes that Tucker will be part of the team in the postseason and against Sale come playoff time, the $60 million outfielder will factor in.
“I do think that our best version of our ball club verus right, veruse left, is with Tucker in the lineup. Chris Sale in the posteason, I would expect Kyle tucker to be in the lineup,” the skipper said.
Roberts painted the decision as a way to get Tucker off his feet and some rest before the trip to Detriot, though given the results, it was quite telling that the outfielder was left out of a big game.
Kyle Tucker’s struggles continue
Over the last 15 games, Tucker is hitting .113/.190/.132 with three RBIs, five walks, and nine strikeouts.
When looking at the last seven games or last 30 games, things look a bit better, with a .200 average in both sample sizes, but it is far from what is expected.
Tucker has reserve splits on the year, hitting better against lefty pitching than righty pitching on the year, but the real marker for Tucker has been that he has been notably worse at home than on the road.
The results are not there, but the Dodgers still believe in Tucker, and he should get all of September and October to move on from his nightmare regular season.
One Response
He’s having a bad year. Hopefully one out of the next 4. One and only one I hope. Being out for a day or three against a good or bad team isn’t going to make any difference. It would be nice if he comes back before the end of the year, but I’m not holding my breath.
However, he’s having a bad season to be sure, but look at his career stats, it’s not like he’s a career 300 hitter, or banging out 40 homers and 125 ribbies year after year. Again, he’s having a bad year, but to my profoundly unprofessional eyes, at 60M a year the D’s grossly overpaid for him.