Eager to get things started
Former Astros prospect Tucker nearing the beginning of the season with his Korean squad
Korean pro season begins May 5 for former Astro Preston Tucker.
Since reporting to spring training on Jan. 30, the Kia Tigers have continued some semblance of practice, worldwide pandemic be damned. They broke tedium on Tuesday with an exhibition game in Gwangju, South Korea, a two-run loss that did not feature their prized foreign outfielder.
“We’ve been here for about five weeks, and we still have about two more weeks to go,” Preston Tucker said Wednesday morning. “It’s been a long spring training because we haven’t really taken any breaks. I’m ready to get going.”
All of Tucker’s American baseball brethren share that eagerness, but he at least can see an end in sight. The former Astros outfielder is scheduled to start his second Tigers season May 5, putting him in the vast minority of world athletes with any certainty amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Tucker’s Tigers are part of the Korean Baseball Organization, one of two professional baseball leagues playing games in the world. The Chinese Professional Baseball League in Taiwan started its regular season April 11 in empty stadiums. The KBO also will play without fans, presuming it starts on schedule.
The Tigers started their journey in Fort Myers, Fla., on Jan. 31 and were scheduled to return to Korea on March 6. Exhibition games were scheduled March 1424, preceding opening day March 28. The virus’ early impact in Korea prevented all that, pushing back a return to March 15.
Other KBO teams were spread across various spring training sites in Taiwan, Arizona, Florida and back in Korea.
The foremost goal became getting all 10 teams home with little hassle. The league accomplished it, and for five weeks, Tucker endured the longest spring training of his career. His team, managed by former Washington Nationals skipper Matt Williams, is practicing three out of every four days. Gradually, players have been allowed more freedom when away from the stadium.
“The first three weeks, they pretty much told us to stay at home, get all our food delivered, and don’t really go anywhere,” Tucker said. “They just wanted to make sure no one within the KBO came down with something, because that would delay (the season) even longer.
“Once it kind of settled down over here, guys can go out to dinner; you can walk around. They just don’t want guys going to the mall or the movie theater, stuff like that.”
Comparing Korea’s swift recovery with the United States and Major League Baseball’s potential return is somewhat illogical. Korea delivered one of the world’s best responses to COVID-19, marked by widespread testing and contact tracing America has not yet matched.
As of Wednesday, Korea — a country of 51 million — had reported 10,694 coronavirus cases and 238 deaths. On Tuesday, it reported nine new cases. The United States, meanwhile, had 25,985 new COVID-19 diagnoses that day.
“Korea is so densely populated, and obviously, they’ve done a great job,” Tucker said. “You don’t see anyone going outside without a mask. Everyone is taking the proper precautions.”
Structurally and geographically, the KBO and MLB differ greatly. The KBO is a 10-team league that does not require airplane travel for road games. The farthest trip for Tucker’s team is to Seoul, about four hours away from the Tigers’ home city of Gwangju. Buses transport the players everywhere, even under normal circumstances.
Still, the league offers a preview of potential precautions that Major League Baseball could implement if it returns in 2020 — be it in Arizona, Arizona and Florida or Arizona, Florida and Texas.
Tucker said he was given a thermometer to check his temperature in the morning and evening. Any player or team personnel member who arrives at the stadium must again have their temperature taken.
Fortunately, Tucker says, the Tigers have had no players get seriously ill. Two weeks after returning from Florida, though, a few of Tucker’s teammates were sent home after temperature checks at the stadium entrance raised an alarm. Tucker said the team was “pretty much quarantined at our apartments.”
“I think they’d found out at the stadium, but before they let them in,” Tucker said, “They didn’t actually go inside the clubhouse that day, but they shut everything down because they didn’t know if they were sick the day before. They got checked and tested, and the whole team was pretty much quarantined for, I think, four or five days after that.
“That’s pretty much the only break we’ve had since we got here.”
Tucker has not been tested for COVID-19. Two of his American teammates were, but only after their families arrived in Korea from the United States. All parties — players and family members — were tested in what they described to Tucker as a “miserable” experience. If Tucker would have had any Americans travel to see him, they’d be subject to similar treatment.
“Three days after their families came, they had some quarantine rule basically stating that if someone comes from America, you’re quarantined for two weeks,” Tucker said. “And the team wouldn’t allow that, because you couldn’t practice because you’d quarantine with them.”
Regular-season play will contain restrictions. According to the Yonhap News Agency, spitting will be “strictly prohibited.” Reporters covering the KBO never had pre or postgame access to a team’s clubhouse, but all media availability will take place in press conference settings with adequate social distance. Front office employees, trainers and other members of the traveling party must wear masks and gloves. So, too, will umpires, who are prohibited from making physical contact with players.
Players will not be required to wear masks, Tucker said. He said the league has discouraged high-fives and handshakes.
“They’re saying no highfives, try to limit physical contact,” Tucker said. “But if you’re on the team and you’re showing up to the stadium, they’ve doubleand triple-checked that you’re not running a fever and you’re not sick, so I think it’s just more to show people that we’re taking precautions like everyone else.
“If you’re on the field, they’ve checked you out 100 percent that you’re at least not sick and not running a fever. If you make it into the stadium, they’ve pretty much cleared you if you’re healthy.”
The Astros selected Tucker in the seventh round of the 2012 draft. Three years later, in the midst of Houston’s first playoff run during the Jeff Luhnow era, he made his major league debut, accruing a .734 OPS in 323 plate appearances. He played sparingly and struggled offensively in 2016.
Acquisitions of Josh Reddick and Nori Aoki that winter all but signaled the end of Tucker’s time in Houston. In September 2017, the Astros traded him to the Braves, who flipped him to the Reds a year later. A brief stint back with Atlanta and another with the White Sox exhausted all of his minor league options by 2018, leaving the 28year-old with a choice to make for everyday playing time.
“There’s a guaranteed contract here,” said Tucker, now nearing 30. “Once you run out of options, if you’re not a guy, it’s kind of hard to find that guarantee, and there’s a lot of uncertainty out there. I was wanting to take a chance to play every day, no matter where that was.”
Last season, his first in Korea, Tucker slashed .311/ .381/.479 with 33 doubles. Kia re-signed him to another one-year deal this offseason, common for foreignborn players in the KBO. The league allows only three foreigners per team, and only two can play in a game. Thus, most teams have one American position player and two pitchers, maximizing how much they can use the talent.
Tucker is the Tigers’ lone American position player. He plays primarily left field and hits near the middle of the order. Expectations are enormous, something both Tucker brothers can share. Preston’s brother, Kyle, spent the past two years as the Astros’ best position player prospect. He has graduated from prospect status now and, if there is a 2020 season, is in line for ample playing time.
“I don’t know if he notices it or not, but everyone has a microscope on (him),” Preston said with a chuckle, noting his brother’s quiet, subdued nature. “It doesn’t take long for people to lose faith in you, that’s for sure. I’m glad he turned it around a little bit last year, and hopefully he’ll get an opportunity to play this year.”
Preston, on the other hand, has one — something so many major leaguers are hoping they soon can claim.
“You kind of learn a lot about yourself,” Preston said of his Korean baseball experience. “No one really messes with your swing. No one really tries to help you. If you’re struggling, you’re kind of on your own. You’re the foreign guy, and everyone expects you to go and produce right off the bat. There’s a little bit of pressure, but it is nice to be able to kind of work yourself out of different things.”