Outfielders in lineup battle
Reddick, Tucker locked in competition to claim the final spot on a stacked offense
During the final Astros game for the foreseeable future, Kyle Tucker and Josh Reddick appeared together. Tucker took a rare start at first base. Reddick went hitless as the designated hitter.
As the game grew more meaningless, both men were pulled in favor of non-roster invitees and minor leaguers. Each made a brief stop in the interview room created to stop the spread of the coronavirus. Tucker dissected two adventurous plays at first base. Reddick reviewed his 1for-20 start to spring training — rare considering his career-long reputation.
“I’ve usually been really good in spring and come out hot in the gate during the season,” Reddick said. “It’s kind of frustrating looking now, I can’t really buy a hit right now.”
Spring training statistics are often overanalyzed. Pitchers almost always enter ahead of hitters, who stress their focus more on timing than results. Reddick counted himself in that number, with one caveat. A competition with Tucker for everyday playing time in right field magnified each plate appearance.
“You can look at it as a battle, I’m not trying to look at it like that. I look at it as it’s my position right now to lose,” Reddick said. “Obviously the slow start could probably add a little bit of pressure and weight to that situation. But I don’t look at it as a battle. It could be, but right now, I look at it as getting myself ready and getting where I need to be for the season to start.”
The only uncertainty in the Astros' loaded lineup centers around the two outfielders. Tucker exhausted his rookie status last
September and made two playoff series rosters. Reddick endured another wretched offensive year. Whenever the coronavirus pandemic subsides and the regular season starts, manager Dusty Baker’s best lineup may include only one of the two outfielders.
At the beginning of camp, Baker said a longer battle favors the veteran Reddick, while Tucker could be well-served to start quick. Neither started fast, but Tucker was torrid when the pandemic paused the spring. Before the sport started its hiatus, Tucker was on an 8-for-13 tear with three extra-base hits
“I mean at the beginning, it’s a little weird,” said Tucker, who began spring training in an 0-for-16 rut. “I hadn’t faced a live pitcher in three or four months and then you come to camp and guys are throwing 97 (mph) at you with multiple pitches. It’s a little weird at first but, right now, I feel totally normal in the box and everything. It’s going pretty well.” Related Links
Both players are most proficient in right field. Reddick was an American League Gold Glove finalist there last season. Both him and Tucker appeared in left field in Grapefruit League action, but Michael Brantley’s regularseason off days could be few and far between.
Tucker and Reddick have the best chance to appear together on days Brantley rests or serves as the designated hitter. Though Yordan Alvarez is adamant he wants to play more outfield, his persistent knee pain must give Baker pause. If Alvarez is given some defensive starts, left field is his only option.
Reddick is a better defender than Tucker. The 33-year-old veteran makes more contact than his 23-year-old counterpart, but Tucker offers a power stroke that
Reddick cannot.
In an ideal lineup, Reddick hits near the bottom of the order, so he’s not asked to go gap-to-gap or provide much pop. Still, he’s finished the past two seasons with a sub-.730 OPS. His on-base percentage did not eclipse .320 in either year, either.
In Grapefruit League play, opponents continued to deploy a drastic shift against the lefthanded hitting Tucker. He squared to bunt against it a few times, but was never successful. Tucker did rope an opposite-field single off Stephen Strasburg in the fifth inning of Houston’s final Grapefruit League game, ending a perfect game that Strasburg never would have finished.
“He’s trying to make some adjustments,” Baker said. “Now is the time to make adjustments, and when you make adjustments and have success, it’s easier to keep making adjustments. He’s been looking pretty good the last week or so.”
Tucker’s reintroduction to first base is a means to expand his versatility, but asking him to play meaningful, regular-season innings there seems far off — especially if Yuli Gurriel and Aledmys Diaz remain healthy.
Former manager A.J. Hinch lauded Tucker’s bold baserunning during the playoffs last season. The key, though, is Tucker’s bat, one that could be the separator in whatever this competition for playing time is called.
“I’m always a guy, if it feels like (Tucker) is going to be our guy to help us win ballgames, I’m obviously going to be all for it,” Reddick said. “I’m obviously not going to be happy about it, personally, but anything to help us win, I’m all for it.”