NEW YORK — He is baseball’s invisible man.
Remember when the Dodgers signed Kyle Tucker? The prophets of doom wailed. The Dodgers had opened Pandora’s box, and out would fly a lockout, a pall of smoke over their games, and a plague of locusts.
The salary cap proposal was coming anyway. The Dodgers did play through wildfire smoke at Yankee Stadium last Friday. No locusts, at least not yet.
But no one foretold that the star to whom the Dodgers agreed last winter to pay an average of $60 million each year would be, well, average.
Over the first half of the season, Tucker’s OPS+ was 100, making him a player defined by that metric as “league average.”
He is batting .240, 30 points below his career average. He is on pace for full-season career lows in home runs (11) and OPS (.702).
His WAR is 0.9, below the 1.3 of Tyler Glasnow. By that metric, Tucker has contributed less to the Dodgers’ success this season than Glasnow, who has pitched in seven of the team’s first 100 games.
Hardly anyone outside Los Angeles has noticed, and hardly anyone in Los Angeles has gotten all worked up about it.
“I appreciate that our fan base, compared to some others, gives a lot more grace to players,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “And I know he sees that as well.”
Here is what Tucker’s trials have cost the Dodgers: Absolutely nothing.
He had two hits, both singles, in 13 at-bats as his team won the weekend series against the New York Yankees. The Dodgers remain the owners of the best record in the major leagues.
Tucker’s four-year contract, lucrative as it is, was not accompanied by a withering spotlight. He does not need to lift his team into the postseason, a burden often borne by marquee free agents signed to put their team over the top.
With the Dodgers?
Shohei Ohtani is the face of baseball. Freddie Freeman’s son walked around the All-Star Game in a T-shirt that read “My Dad Has 2,500 Hits.”
Mookie Betts last played here as a World Series-winning, Gold Glove-winning right fielder; he returned as a World Series-winning, Gold Glove-caliber shortstop.
“I think it certainly helps being around a lot of other guys who have high expectations,” Roberts said.
Neither rain nor smoke nor heat can keep the Dodgers from their appointed October rounds. They need Tucker to prosper then.
“Obviously, we all want to play well all year,” Betts said. “It’s not like we’re kicking the can and nobody cares. Even then, we’d love to be ready in October.
“It’s really just about playing. You never know. You could have a great October and get one hit, and it could be the biggest hit.”
Said Tucker: “Everyone here is very talented. Everyone is here to help each other out. Everyone here just wants to get back to another World Series, and win it. So I’m trying to do my part and just play baseball.”
He insists he is not weighted down by the external expectations that accompany his contract.
“I think that’s the beauty of it, the thing that’s refreshing,” Betts said. “I don’t think he cares about any of that. He just wants to play well and do his thing and help the boys.
“I don’t think he really cares about the expectations.”
You may think “$60 million” when he comes to the plate. He does not.
“I try, regardless of what my situation is,” Tucker said. “Sometimes it works out. Sometimes it doesn’t. I’ve just got to try and do better.”
His strikeouts are up significantly this season. His bat speed is down slightly. His hard contact rate is down significantly.
He’s working on fixing his swing. He’s been working on it. He’ll keep working on it.
Roberts said the quality of Tucker’s at-bats have looked better over the past couple weeks, even if the results may not show it.
“The thing that I’ve appreciated since Day 1 is, he hasn’t run from his struggles,” Roberts said. “He’s owned it.”
Tucker made the All-Star Game in each of the four years preceding this one. The Dodgers are betting his level of performance will at least approach that in the second half.
Betts said he does not see anything specific to worry about with Tucker.
“I don’t see anything at all,” Betts said. “He’s a competitor. He’s already come through a bunch during the year. It’s not like he’s not doing anything.
“He’s not hitting .330 with 30 [home runs], like we all would dream we were doing, right? But, as a team, we’re doing OK.”
For now, the Dodgers are. Their true season starts in a little more than two months.
From Tucker, the accountability is appreciated. Production would be better.
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