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Where has the Kyle Tucker the Chicago Cubs thought they could count on gone?
Tucker suffered a finger injury on June 1 against the Cincinnati Reds, and the difference between the numbers he put up before and after that date is fairly staggering. In the 59 games up to and including that date, his OPS was .918. In 52 games since, it’s .786.
Tucker’s slump has gotten particularly bad lately, and it’s coincided with the Cubs going 9-9 since the All-Star break. He’s hitting .212 with just a .308 slugging percentage since the second half began.
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No baseball player likes to use the injury excuse, but the reality is that it’s hard to perform at your best if you don’t feel your best. So how much is that finger injury actually affecting the superstar’s performance?
Tucker spoke to The Athletic’s Sadahev Sharma about the injury in a piece published on Friday, trying to downplay its impact.
“I mean, it’s fine,” Tucker said. “I gotta do my job regardless of how I feel. I’ll just continue that the best I can.”
Sharma also spoke to Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer, who was more willing to admit that the injury was affecting Tucker one way or another.
“I don’t 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,” Hoyer said, per Sharma. “There’s no question it’s had some impact on him.”
Knowing that this could very well be the only year the Cubs have Tucker, the idea that he could be playing as a lesser version of himself is tough to swallow.
Though it might cost them a shot at taking back the division from the surging Milwaukee Brewers, the Cubs’ top priority should be getting Tucker whatever treatment he needs to be at 100% by the time October arrives.
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