
2. Tough Situation
It’s a short season, his first “full-year” with the club, surely those numbers can be misleading since they are inevitably a smaller sample size. Right? That explains it all away, Tucker is a fraud, he just takes advantage of the situation.
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Wrong.
Most hitters can learn to take advantage of a good situation, like being up 2-0, or facing a right-handed pitcher (as a lefty). But not Kyle Tucker.
Tucker thrives in tougher situations. For instance, he hits better on the road (.291) than he does at home (.209). He hits better down in the count (0-1 count, .314; 0-2 count, .304) then he does when he’s ahead in the count (1-0 count, .214; 2-0 count, .111).
And he hits left-handed pitchers (.314) better than right-handed pitchers (.221).
All this to say that Tucker is doing better in harder situations then he is when everyone else does better—in easier situations. What is the natural segue from there? That Tucker’s numbers will skew even more upwards when he starts leveling out those easier situations.
He’s not done improving yet, folks.
Finally, on to No. 1.