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<\/p>\nBoth the Cubs\u2019 offense as a whole and Kyle Tucker individually were among the best in baseball for the first few months of the season. Now, as the Cubs\u2019 offense has struggled to live up to the incredible early standard it set, the spotlight has fallen on Chicago\u2019s struggling star.<\/p>\n
July was markedly different from the early part of the season. And while the dip wasn\u2019t awful, it didn\u2019t meet expectations for the offense or Tucker. Since July 1, Tucker has a 91 Weighted Runs Created Plus (wRC+) \u2014 a stat that measures offensive production, with 100 being league average \u2014 with just one home run and three doubles.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot great,\u201d Tucker said when asked to assess his recent stretch. \u201cJust doing the best I can. Gotta grind through it. Try and figure it out and turn it around.\u201d<\/p>\n
There has been speculation that the finger injury Tucker sustained on June 1 while sliding into second base may still be impacting him. Tucker downplayed the magnitude when asked before Wednesday\u2019s victory over the Cincinnati Reds, which was a rest day for him.<\/p>\n
\u201cI mean, it\u2019s fine,\u201d the always understated Tucker said. \u201cI gotta do my job regardless of how I feel. I\u2019ll just continue that the best I can.\u201d<\/p>\n
Team president Jed Hoyer didn\u2019t discount the idea.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know how much is pain, discomfort, how much is bad habits you got into to compensate for something, and just how much is a slump,\u201d Hoyer said. \u201cThere\u2019s no question it\u2019s had some impact on him.\u201d<\/p>\n
That Tucker had his best month in June leads one to believe this isn\u2019t solely due to the original finger injury. Tucker had a 174 wRC+ with nine doubles and five home runs (.267 ISO) in June. That should give pause to anyone who believes the finger is the main culprit.<\/p>\n
Manager Craig Counsell has been adamant that this is just a temporary slump for Tucker.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of good things happening there, it\u2019s just he\u2019s missing some pitches he feels like he should hit,\u201d Counsell said. \u201cThat\u2019s hitting sometimes. You miss a pitch you should hit, a pitcher makes a good pitch and you\u2019re walking back to the dugout. That\u2019s the fine line of hitting in the big leagues.\u201d<\/p>\n
A few things are going on with Tucker that suggest things aren\u2019t right, but also that he\u2019s probably going to snap out of it.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The above shows a recent drop in power (ISO), along with a rise in ground balls. Hitting coaches love to say that slug is in the air. Tucker just isn\u2019t driving the ball on a line at the moment. Not at the standard he\u2019s set for himself, at least.<\/p>\n
\u201cI normally hit the ball in the air a lot, and I hit it pretty hard when I do,\u201d Tucker said. \u201cObviously haven\u2019t been doing that a lot. I have a handful of extra-base hits the last month-and-a-half or whatever. Some of those at-bats, I\u2019ve hit some hard singles just right at the center fielder, right at the right fielder. Didn\u2019t get in the gap or down the line.\u201d<\/p>\n
The chart also shows that Tucker\u2019s hard contact has increased in recent weeks. That has come at the same time the ball has been on the ground more than at almost any other point this season. The combination of fouling the ball off and putting it on the ground can often indicate a timing issue.<\/p>\n
That Tucker isn\u2019t chasing at all during this rough patch matters a lot. His walk rate in July was 20.6 percent, leading to a .380 on-base percentage. For a down month, that\u2019s incredible. It shows that Tucker can still be productive even if he\u2019s not hitting for power. And it shows that his swing decisions remain strong.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I was chasing balls in the dirt or above my head all the time, then it\u2019s a different story,\u201d Tucker said. \u201cIt\u2019s just a matter of making solid contact forward. That\u2019s kind of where I\u2019m at. At times, you\u2019re going to foul off pitches or swing through pitches you think you should hit. That\u2019s kind of where it\u2019s been. I need to figure out how to put those in play and hit them harder.\u201d<\/p>\n
The pillars of hitting are not chasing, not swinging and missing, and hitting the ball hard in the air. Tucker is still doing almost all those things, but his hard contact just hasn\u2019t been in the air enough. If this is what a slump looks like for Tucker, then it just goes to show how talented he is.<\/p>\n
But to be the scary offense the Cubs were at the outset, they\u2019ll need Tucker at his best. The smart bet is that things will turn.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s how baseball goes sometimes,\u201d Tucker said. \u201cJust try to ride the wave as best you can and try to turn it around as fast as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n
(Photo: Geoff Stellfox \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Both the Cubs\u2019 offense as a whole and Kyle Tucker individually were among the best in baseball for…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":129714,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[1271,1266,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-129713","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-chicago-cubs","9":"tag-mlb","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-united-states","12":"tag-unitedstates","13":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114994560832204480","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129713","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=129713"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129713\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/129714"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=129713"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=129713"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=129713"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}