Cubs star Kyle Tucker suffered a hairline fracture in his proper hand again in June, reviews Jesse Rogers of ESPN. Tucker jammed his proper hand diving into second base on a stolen base try in a recreation towards the Reds on June 1. Supervisor Craig Counsell subsequently confirmed the June fracture however says Tucker is now wholesome (by way of Rogers).
Preliminary x-rays got here again adverse. Nonetheless, Rogers writes that follow-up testing revealed a small fracture on the prime of his hand between his ring finger and pinky. The Cubs didn’t announce the prognosis on the time, and Tucker has not spent any time on the injured listing. The four-time All-Star most popular to play by way of the harm.
Looking back, it’s honest to query whether or not that was prudent. Tucker had been probably the greatest hitters in MLB for the season’s first two months. He owned a .284/.395/.524 slash with 12 homers throughout 269 plate appearances by way of June 1. Since then, he’s batting .236/.352/.368 in nearly the very same quantity of enjoying time. Tucker has related on six longballs over the previous two and a half months.
Whereas the harm definitely appears to be having an affect, it’s price noting that Tucker really continued to play effectively within the quick aftermath. He hit .311 with 5 homers in June. It wasn’t till July that issues went utterly off the rails. He’s batting .189/.325/.235 with one homer in his previous 38 video games.
Tucker’s plate self-discipline stays robust — he has really walked extra usually than he has struck out throughout that stretch — however his energy has utterly evaporated. His price of laborious contact (batted balls with an exit velocity of not less than 95 MPH) was between 44-50% in every of the primary two months. It remained strong at 42.9% in June however has plummeted beneath 30% in every of the previous two months.
That form of play from a hitter of Tucker’s caliber has naturally led to hypothesis about his well being. Pat Murphy, supervisor of the Milwaukee workforce that’s enjoying the Cubs this week, opined that the outfielder was enjoying by way of an harm. “I feel Tucker’s harm. I don’t have any info, however Tucker’s not the identical,” Murphy stated on 670 The Rating.
Tucker himself has maintained that he’s bodily okay. Nonetheless, president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer conceded to Rogers “that once you take a look at his numbers, it’s had an affect on him, for positive. That’s the character generally of those small accidents. They will try this.” Counsell has stored Tucker out of the lineup for the previous three video games — two days, together with a doubleheader on Tuesday. Chicago received all three video games over the MLB-best Brewers with Owen Caissie enjoying proper area. Counsell hasn’t dedicated to Tucker’s standing for tomorrow’s collection finale.
The Cubs stay six video games again of Milwaukee within the NL Central. They’re comfortably in Wild Card place, which supplies them the flexibleness to combine in additional off days for Tucker if obligatory. They’ll must discover a strategy to get him again to being productive in the event that they hope to make a deep playoff run. The harm and stoop clearly come at an inopportune time for Tucker personally, as he’s a pair months from free company. He’s the clear #1 participant within the class and customarily anticipated to command $400MM+ as he enters his age-29 season.
