Kyle Tucker's Swing Clicks After Brutal First Half
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- Kyle Tucker signed a four-year, $240 million deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers — the highest annual salary in baseball history — but was batting .234/.333/.374 through 80 games, well below his prior June floors of .254 average and .811 OPS.
- After extended postgame cage sessions with hitting coach Aaron Bates, Tucker went 14-for-38 with eight walks and eight strikeouts over his next 10 games, including a four-hit night and a nine-pitch home run at-bat.
- Tucker was hitting .269 on changeups in 2026 after slugging .507 on the pitch the previous two seasons, posted his highest chase rate in four years, and was striking out at his highest rate since 2019 — symptoms scouts traced to his lower half drifting forward and pulling his long, flat swing out of the zone.
- Aaron Bates discovered Tucker stays centered when he imagines he's squatting, though he isn't actually doing it — a feel cue that has helped reshape his mechanics since late June.
- Tucker was dropped from second in the order (behind Shohei Ohtani and Mookie Betts) to seventh in June, a reflection of how often he was missing hittable pitches early in counts and chasing below the zone.
- Despite Tucker's slump and prolonged absences from Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow and Edwin Diaz, the Dodgers still own baseball's best winning percentage and run differential, ranking first in OPS and first in weighted runs created plus.
- A longtime scout told the outlet Tucker's swing, when off-balance, "almost looks like a two-handed tennis backhand"; Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Tucker "won't run from the work," with team officials noting he's logged more extra sessions in three months than in three years.
- Teoscar Hernandez said that if Tucker gets going, "This team is going to be a problem. For real."
Why it matters: Tucker was signed to be the Dodgers' offensive catalyst, and through 80 games a team built around him was winning at baseball's best rate anyway — meaning a hot Tucker turns the league's top offense into something closer to runaway. Manager Dave Roberts dropped him from second to seventh while the rotation dealt with injuries to Snell, Glasnow and Diaz, underscoring how dependent a deep October run still is on the league's richest annual contract producing.
