ASTROS’ TUCKER EYES FRESH START
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — On a day devoted to the buzz of a new beginning, he was almost invisible inside the Astros’ clubhouse.
Kyle Tucker was simply known as “Ted” during 2018 spring training. The Astros’ next elite prospect hit a scorching .409 with five home runs, 21 RBIs and a 1.256 OPS in 20 warmup games, drawing instant comparisons to the greatest hitter of all time.
George Springer. Lance McCullers Jr. Carlos Correa. Alex Bregman. Tucker was already next in line.
Easy, right?
A July 7 MLB debut became a 9-for-64 big league slide. The No. 5 overall pick of the 2015 amateur draft was shipped back to Class AAA. When baseball’s then-reigning world champs fell 4-1 to Boston in the American League Championship Series, the kid with the super-sweet swing didn’t even lift a bat. Then Tucker’s promised left-field spot inside Minute Maid Park was handed to veteran free agent Michael Brantley.
And now here we are.
Jose Altuve speaks of new promise and still having to prove people wrong every year. Springer playfully jokes about not working out during the offseason. Correa acknowledges he tried to carry too much weight a year ago and is already more himself as another spring begins. Tucker?
Ask him if he wants to make the Astros’ 25-man opening-day
roster, and this is what you get back.
“Yeah. Why not? I’m not coming to spring training trying to go to Triple A,” a monotone Tucker said Monday at the Ballpark of the Palm Beaches. “That’s not what I want to do. You come to spring training and you have a chance to make the team, that’s what you want to do. Go out and play and help the guys win.”
There wasn’t much fire in the answer. There was no sign of “Ted,” as in Willliams. And it kept feeling like the last thing Tucker wanted to talk about was what went wrong last year or the pressure already built into his 2019 campaign.
I also was instantly reminded that Tucker is still just 22, Bregman began his MLB career a backward 1-for-32, and several Hall of Famers had equally frigid beginnings.
Tucker is going to have to show the Astros something this spring. The Astros also still believe in him.
“I want to see what kind of adjustments his work has brought,” manager A.J. Hinch said before his team’s first full workout. “He’s matured a little bit. He’s a little bit bigger and stronger. See what he’s learned.
“When you first get to the big leagues, it’s not always easy. I think some of his swing mechanics are going to have to be adjusted a little bit. Some of his posture … he would always go down to his back leg quite a bit. I just want to see him compete and relax a little bit.” Compete and relax. Those are the initial keys for Tucker, whose inner passion and love for the game must match his innate talent.
He has annually jumped up Baseball America’s top-prospects list, rising from No. 61 in 2016 to No. 15 last season and No. 12 entering this spring. But many of the loudest Astros fans are already ready to trade Tucker — far too many of those foolishly wanted to deal Bregman, too — and there’s little room for error for a club trying to turn one World Series trophy into a dynasty.
The Astros used to be devoted to their prospects. Now they only have time for real MLB talent.
“I don’t think the level was too good for (Tucker),” Hinch said. “I just think the time wasn’t right for him, as you look back, to be the type of contributor that we expected at the time of the season that we expected it.
“You learn a lot about guys when they face a little bit of adversity. I don’t think he’d ever failed before until he got to the highest level as a really, really young big leaguer. So I’d like to see him … if he has the same spring he had last year, that would be pretty dynamic.”
Tucker got away last offseason. His family went to Scotland and England for 10 days, and he visited Las Vegas.
Standing inside the Astros’ buzzing clubhouse, the young lefthanded hitter — .288 average, 61 home runs, 285 RBIs, 91 stolen bases, .849 OPS in four minor league seasons — kept repeating the same message.
These Astros are loaded and eyeing another ring. He just wants to help the big league club win any way he can.
“It’s exciting with this team,” Tucker said. “We have a great group of guys, and we have a chance to do something special this year. The last couple weeks of the offseason, you’re kind of just like, ‘All right. We need to hurry up, get to spring training, get going. I want to see all the guys again.’ ”
There is nothing Tucker can do to erase his slow MLB start. His next big league home run will be his first.
Right now, the 2019 Astros don’t need “Ted.” They just need to see a confident, driven Tucker regain his top-prospect form.
New beginnings are what spring is for.