Astros prospect comes a long way in a short time
Former first-round pick Kyle Tucker has rocketed his way through the farm system since being drafted in 2015.
CORPUS CHRISTI — Rodney Linares acknowledges the outfield prospect promoted to his team earlier this month is “interesting.” The skipper of the Astros’ Class AA affiliate in Corpus Christi harkened back to a player he managed a dozen years ago in Class A ball in Lexington, Ky.
“This kid is long, lean, doesn’t look the part but when he gets up there (to hit), it’s a different sound,” Linares said. “It’s a little unorthodox because his swing is a little bit long, but he finds a way to make it work.
“Everything he does on the field looks like Hunter. It’s a little awkward, but man, he puts some swings on some balls.”
The Hunter in question? He’s Hunter Pence, who burst upon the scene with the Astros in 2007 and became an instant fan favorite. The kid? He’s Kyle Tucker, the Astros’ first-round pick in the 2015 draft and the top position player prospect in the Houston system.
But instead of worrying about becoming the next Hunter Pence, Linares wants him to be the first Kyle Tucker.
“We need to let him just go out there and play, let him develop and teach him how to do things the right way,” Linares said. “This kid, as young as he is and as short a time as he’s been in pro ball, he’s put himself on the map big time.” MAKING THE TRANSITION
Indeed, it’s been quite the whirlwind for Tucker since his senior class at Tampa’s Plant High School graduated May 27, 2015.
Twelve days later, the Astros made the native Floridian the fifth overall pick in the MLB draft, joining his older brother Preston — who made his bigleague debut a month earlier — in the organization.
In the two years after opting to sign with the Astros over playing at the University of Florida, his brother’s alma mater, Kyle has navigated the twists and turns of pro ball. He’s played for six different teams at four different levels since being drafted.
His latest stop brought him to Corpus Christi, two stops away from the majors. Having turned 20 on Jan. 17, he’s the second-youngest player in the Texas League behind only San Antonio shortstop Luis Urias, who turned 20 on June 3.
“It’s been fun,” Tucker said. “Already being at this (level) in Double-A is a huge accomplishment. I feel like I made a good decision.”
As for the Astros’ decision to promote Tucker to AA after just 64 games at high-A — with 48 at Buies Creek (N.C.) this year — it appears to be a sound one.
Tucker entered the week leading Astros minor leaguers in RBIs (60) this season while third in homers (15). The latter marks a career high, with Tucker close to doubling his 2016 total of nine.
Tucker hit safely in his first 11 games upon joining the Hooks on May 30 in Springfield, Mo. However, he said it took him a week or two to get acclimated to his new level. Many baseball observers consider the jump from high-A to AA the toughest in the minors.
“I didn’t realize how hard it was until I got up here,” Tucker said. “You can definitely tell your first couple games up here — even in your first at-bat — that guys are locating and they have better stuff. I think in my first series, I was talking to Jason (Martin, a fellow Buies Creek call-up) that these guys have nasty curveballs. You never really saw that in A-ball. Coming up here, you had to adjust to that and adjust your plan at the plate.”
A veteran American League scout who watched Tucker during the Hooks’ recent homestand acknowledged his swing is “not one you see often. But he’s producing.”
Entering the Texas League’s all-star break earlier this week, Tucker hit .257 in his first 25 games with the Hooks, with 6 homers, 17 RBIs and an .821 OPS. He finished their recent homestand with four homers and 11 RBIs in the final seven games.
But a longtime National League scout cautioned that Tucker was still a work in progress, noting teams and pitchers in the eight-team circuit will make adjustments.
“He has a ways to go,” the scout said. “He’s still learning the game and needs to become more of a student of the game.
He’s easy to pitch to now (because) he has a long, stiff swing.” STEELING FOR THE GRIND
After splitting time between two short-season rookie leagues after being drafted in 2015, Tucker had to prepare himself in 2016 for the grind of a full minor league season.
Unlike two games a week in high school, that meant playing 140 games between April and early September, with perhaps a dozen off days the whole season while logging thousands of bus miles.
“Going into your first full season, you get to the halfway point and you’re like, ‘It’s been a while and I still have a whole second half to play,’ ” Tucker said. “It kind of gets tiring, but you have to reboot it up when the all-star break ends and keep it going throughout the whole season.
“Especially when you haven’t done it before, it’s tough (to prepare). That’s why the first season is tough for guys. Playing every day takes its toll on you. I got that experience this year and last year. I know what I have to do in the offseason to train my body for it and get ready for this season.”
Preston Tucker, who’s older by 6 ½ years, said his primary baseball advice to his brother centered around being ready for the upcoming season.
“As a high schooler, you pretty much have from October to early March not to do anything and you’re not sure how to go about the start of the season,” said the elder Tucker, who logged big-league time with the Astros in 2015 and 2016.
“It’s about not getting lazy in the offseason. Making a routine in the offseason is big and making sure you’re staying healthy and getting strong. You want to be ready for spring, not get to spring training and try to get ready for the season then. You want to go into the spring going 100 percent.”
In addition to fatigue and dealing with the rigors of a long season, Kyle Tucker had to cope with the bouts of failure inevitable over the course of a long campaign.
Three times last season at low-A Quad Cities, he went seven games without driving in a run. However, he never went more than two consecutive games without a hit at Quad Cities or high-A Lancaster. His longest hitless drought this year was four consecutive games near the end of his time with Buies Creek.
“A lot of guys coming out of high school, they got drafted because they had success in high school and never had to deal with failure,” Tucker said. “Last year and this year, I had to deal with striking out or not hitting as well.
“Last year was kind of tough for me because I never had to deal with it before. This year, I’m kind of just shrugging it off because it’s going to happen to everyone. You can’t get a hit every single time.“
If there’s any frustration, it’s not evident to Linares.
“Ever since he came up, he’s such a tough kid to read that it seems like nothing fazes him,” Linares said. “He might strike out three times. But he has a really short-term memory and the next day, he’ll come up and get three hits. The one good thing about him is if you talk to him about what he was looking for in a situation, he has a plan.
“He has a chance to be a special player at a young age doing what he’s doing at this level.” STAYING OR GOING?
While his talent isn’t in question, Tucker’s future address is the subject of much speculation.
As the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline approaches, Tucker figures to be in demand if the Astros try to make a deal
to bolster their starting rotation.
Given Tucker’s potential, Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow will try to do everything possible to not include him in a deal. But any trade rumors involving his name don’t concern the prospect.
“I’ll see it, but I don’t pay too much attention to it,” Tucker said. “I have no say in that, so I can’t really control anything that goes on with that. I just try to do my best out there and try to get to the bigs, whether it’s with the Astros or there are plenty of other teams that play baseball. Right now, I play for the Astros. That’s my goal, to be in the big leagues with (them) right now.”
Linares said he would be “very surprised” if the deadline passed with Tucker not in the Astros’ fold.
“But again, it’s a business and in order to get good, you’ve got to give away good (players),” Linares said. “In order to create a dynasty and win a lot of championships, you’ve got to win your first one. Jeff and his staff up there do a good job of evaluating everything that we can do to be competitive. If that’s the case, that’s their call. I’m lucky and blessed that I’m not the one making that call.”
In the interim, Tucker will focus on the job at hand, even though baseball hardly seems like a job to the third-year pro.
“Most of my friends are in college so they’ll send me some pictures (from) home and I’ll be like, ‘That’s fun, but I’m in Double-A ball and two steps away from my dream,’ “Tucker said. “Having that mindset is just awesome.
“I don’t take it as it’s my job and I have to be super serious all the time. It’s baseball, it’s a game that I play with my friends out here every day. Having that perspective makes it way more fun.” Greg Rajan is the senior editor of Texas Sports Nation.