Chicago Cubs 2026

#1,557      
I was at the Portland - Binghampton AA game yesterday, and Rojas did not play. I was hoping to see what he had.
I don’t think he’s a superstar in waiting, but he has a very high floor IMO based on his hit tool. Cubs were very aggressive promoting him up until heading back to AA this year. Still just turned 21 this year. I think he will be a very productive hitter for quite a few years. And if he can continue to up his power, his bat will play even better at 3B. I think it is likely there or 2B he ends up. I’m thinking a Nico Hoerner with a bit more power but a bit less SB.
 
#1,564      
Tucker still has something weird with his swing. Like he doesn’t drive through the ball and hits weak ground balls and pop ups.

Reminds me of Jason Heyward, another tall, lanky batter. Heyward hurt his wrist in 2016, played through it, but his swing got off, and he never really recovered.

Tucker tried to play through his wrist injury, too. He’s been a completely different hitter the last 50-ish games with the Cubs and now this season with the Dodgers.
 
#1,565      
Reminds me of Jason Heyward, another tall, lanky batter. Heyward hurt his wrist in 2016, played through it, but his swing got off, and he never really recovered.

Tucker tried to play through his wrist injury, too. He’s been a completely different hitter the last 50-ish games with the Cubs and now this season with the Dodgers.
Heyward got in the bad, bad, bad habit of trying to pull everything, which is what constantly led to him rolling over and getting the result of the ground ball to second base. He wanted to hit for power and it just led to him being a bad hitter. It was infuriating, he got booed, but it's a habit that's hard to break. Hitting the ball where it's pitched(to the opposite field) is an art and is the difference between a .210 and a .280 average.

Hoerner, for as good of a hitter as he is, fell into this. He muscled up and hit a few long balls in April, then he tried to pull everything. His average dove about .80 and his K's were up. July hit, he went back to what worked for him, which was using the entire field and his average jumped .30. Bregman came back post All Star break and he really focussed on hitting the ball to right and right center field. That's where his power was coming from and magically, his slug % took off. Javy Baez was the worst example of this. With two strikes, a pitch bouncing in 8 inches down and off the plate was an automatic out. He never fixed that.

I have seen a ton of Tucker this year, but at the end of last year he was pulling the ball a lot. His bat to ball contact is phenomenal, so he got away with it. Was the issue due to a wrist injury? Was it due to it being a contract year and the long ball was a priority ? Is he trying to live up to his contract this year and has fallen into the Jason Heyward trap? I have no clue, but it's not good and is something that probably won't be corrected until the off-season when you can get into the lab. It's extremely hard to work on things headed into the final stretch. We'll see, but stats like this isn't going to endear himself to the fans.
 
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