Looking for a new beat
Cole Tucker’s goal: Increase contact and reduce strikeouts in 2020.
BRADENTON, Fla. — Before games started, when spring training activities were confined to Pirate City, Cole Tucker would drive to Guitar Center in Sarasota and spend a couple hours trying out drum sets.
Self-taught but seriously obsessed, Tucker — who’s also a movie buff — started playing drums in third grade after watching “School of Rock” and “Drumline.” He studies YouTube videos and tries to play along with 311, the Red Hot Chili Peppers or Incubus — bands featuring drummers who, Tucker said, have “some thump and funk.”
“If baseball doesn’t work out, I’ll probably just go try and be a rock star,” Tucker joked. “It scratches that itch for me.”
While the Pirates aren’t about to release their 2014 first-round pick, the 23year-old Tucker has spent the recent part of spring training trying to make more noise on the baseball field than off it.
Although he faces long odds — with Kevin Newman and Adam Frazier the clear-cut starters at shortstop and second base, respectively — Tucker must play well enough here to persuade management to keep him on the major league roster.
In 10 games, Tucker is hitting .304 (7-for-23) with a double, two home runs, six RBIs and three runs scored. Tucker has also walked three times and struck out just twice, improving upon something that bugged him during his rookie season.
“I’ve been better with that this spring,” Tucker said of making more contact and decreasing his amount of swing-and-miss. “It’s all about controlling what I can and not trying to make so much out of nothing.”
If Tucker makes the team, it’ll likely be as a backup infielder, a late-inning bat off the bench or defensive replacement. He also needs to stay ready in case the Pirates make a move with Frazier; regardless of how things might look in the short term, Tucker is absolutely considered one of their middle infielders of the future.
To take that next step, Tucker will need to walk a difficult line between trying to make an impression and also relaxing enough to let his talent shine through. So far so good, Tucker said.
“I’m just trying to do what I always do: play hard, make good plays and have
good at-bats,” Tucker said. “The act of trying to get better and improving never changes. It’s constant. Just trying to swing it a little bit, make some plays and make some things happen on the bases.”
Baseball-wise, again, it’s all about decreasing the strikeouts for Tucker. When he was optioned to Class AAA Indianapolis June 8, Tucker was hitting .196 with 34 strikeouts in 112 at-bats — or in roughly 28% of his plate appearances. That’s far too much for anyone, let alone someone who had just 10 extrabase hits during that time.
“I was trying to hit a fiverun home run every time I came up to the plate,” Tucker said. “I wasn’t staying within myself. I was trying to do so much. As the year progressed, I think I got better with that.”
Tucker is correct. After making his first appearance back with the MLB club Aug. 16, Tucker hit .257, had an OPS of .819 and struck out just six times in 39 plate appearances the rest of the season — a little more than 15% of the time.
Continuing to make contact and cut down the swing-and-miss starts with having an aggressive mindset and being on-time. One way to influence that is with more preparation, in addition to confidence in your mechanics, a clear head or both. Tucker has strung together several good at-bats this spring, cutting down on some of his over-aggressive swings, and that has actually boosted his confidence.
“I feel good,” Tucker said. “I’ve gotten a couple knocks, which is nice. I want to start driving the ball some more. … But I want to keep it going and keep progressing through camp. You don’t want to peak the first week and suck the rest of the way. I want to continue to do well the whole way through.”
He also wouldn’t mind sneaking down to Guitar Center and rocking out, either.
Chad Smith (Red Hot Chili Peppers) is probably Tucker’s favorite drummer. The Pirates infielder also plays predominantly on a DW Collector’s Series kit, which costs $3,500 or (likely) more. There’s a Ludwig kit back home at Tucker’s house in Arizona.
“I love it,” Tucker said.
“It’s my passion project. It’s cool, ya know? Playing drums is fun. It’s a fun outlet. No one is trying to get you out. No one is trying to get you to make an error while you’re playing the drums.”