Kyle Tucker’s first season as a Los Angeles Dodger hasn’t gone well from the start, and it just doesn’t seem to be getting any better.
That reared its ugly head in the ninth inning of Sunday’s loss to the Milwaukee Brewers when Tucker couldn’t handle a fly ball near the wall in right field and was subsequently booed by the Dodgers’ home crowd.
This comes just one day after Tucker got a game off to rest and reset mentally amid his struggles, particularly playing in Los Angeles, as manager Dave Roberts explained on Saturday.
“The splits are stark on the road. I don’t think we have a reason behind it, but yeah, but I wouldn’t say fixate on it, but now he’s conscious of it… Reactions to at-bats, whether it’s the first at-bat of a game and you’re really showing emotion, that’s a tell from a guy who doesn’t show a lot of emotion. So those things, as they build up, you know, for me that tells me that you need to watch a baseball game and kind of take some of that frustration and put it to the side,”
It didn’t appear to help on Sunday, as Tucker not only had the misplay in the outfield but went 0-for-3 at the dish and is now 0-for-19 during their current homestand.
The 29-year-old Tucker, of course, signed a four-year, $240 million contract to join the Dodgers as a free agent in January. He’s batting .232 with 11 home runs and 54 RBI through the first 117 games of the season.
Perhaps the pressure of playing in Los Angeles has gotten to Tucker, though given the team’s success and all of the star power around him, there really isn’t that much pressure, during the regular season at least.
There’s still time for Tucker to right the ship and figure things out heading into the postseason, but for now, his first season as a Dodger certainly hasn’t gone according to plan. Other teams like the Toronto Blue Jays, who made massive offers themselves, may be feeling fortunate after all that he didn’t choose them this winter.
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