The Los Angeles Dodgers expected Kyle Tucker to be one of the biggest offensive additions in baseball this season. Instead, the 29-year-old outfielder has endured the most difficult season of his career despite being surrounded by star hitters and rising expectations.
Tucker entered last offseason as the consensus top free agent after turning down a qualifying offer from the Chicago Cubs. The Dodgers ultimately committed $240 million over four years to land him, making his struggles particularly significant for a team built to contend for another World Series.
“Tucker, who has endured the worst season of his career in the first year of his four-year, $240 million deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers, had been in the midst of the longest hitless stretch as a big leaguer,” Fabian Ardaya wrote for The Athletic. “He’d gone 26 at-bats without a hit by the time he came up in the fourth inning Tuesday against the Colorado Rockies.”
The slump has created an uncomfortable situation for the team. Tucker is being counted on as a middle-of-the-order presence, but the enormous contract has made every prolonged downturn more difficult to ignore.
Los Angeles Dodgers Superstar Mookie Betts Sends Kyle Tucker Message After $240 Million Contract
One person who understands the pressure better than most is Dodgers star Mookie Betts, who has experienced the expectations that accompany playing with a massive contract in Los Angeles.
Betts recently sent a message about how Tucker’s contract is making things particularly uncomfortable for his teammate.
“We know Tuck is kind of going through it,” Betts said during an episode of his “On Base” podcast. “He came into a tough situation, you know, you give somebody that type of contract, there’s going to be external pressure and really internal pressure for himself because he knows he needs to play well.”
Betts acknowledged that Tucker has failed to meet expectations, though he might not find many sympathetic listeners outside of the Dodgers fanbase when pointing to the pressure added by such a lucrative contract.
However, after committing so much to the new player, the Dodgers have little choice but to continue publicly supporting him throughout his slump. Manager Dave Roberts took a similar approach when deciding how to handle Tucker during his slump.
“I think the easy thing for me to do is to not play him,” Roberts said on Wednesday, according to Maddie Lee of the Los Angeles Times. “But for me, what I can do, a way of showing support, is by playing him. … I think he gives us the best chance to win.”
Los Angeles Dodgers Need Kyle Tucker Turnaround
The stakes extend beyond Tucker’s individual production. Los Angeles already surrendered significant draft capital and international bonus-pool money earlier this offseason as a penalty for signing closer Edwin Díaz, while the Tucker deal represented another enormous investment.
That makes the Dodgers’ decision to continue giving Tucker opportunities understandable. His track record suggests the current production is not representative of the player they signed.
For now, Betts’ message reflects the Dodgers’ position: Tucker may be struggling under immense pressure, but the organization believes the best path forward is to keep putting him in position to succeed.