The Los Angeles Dodgers gave Kyle Tucker a $240 million contract in the offseason, but have not seen him play like the player he has been in the last five years.
Tucker has awful numbers at home, hitting .189 with a .558 OPS at Dodger Stadium. He has been fine on the road, posting a .822 OPS, but overall, his season has been a disaster.
“I don’t really know," Tucker said on Monday when asked if he knew why he was struggling at home, per the New York Post's Jack Harris. "If I knew, I’d probably have figured it out by now.”
Tucker entered play on Tuesday in an 0-for-24 slump. He broke the hitless run with an RBI double down the first-base line. There have been small flashes of Tucker being a good player, mostly on the road, but the lack of consistency is a problem. Last season, he struggled at home as well and battled injuries in the second half.
“I feel like I’ve tried just about everything," Tucker said. "And every time I feel like I’m turning a corner, I get hit with a roadblock.”
Tucker was a consistent 30-homer threat in Houston and was an MVP candidate early last year. However, he has not been able to put things together in Los Angeles. The Dodgers signed him thinking they were getting an All-Star outfielder, but it has been an outlier season. This does not mean Tucker cannot get on a roll or bounce back next season, but it is certainly not easy for Dodgers fans to watch him start every day.