Up and down the lineup, the Dodgers have, by and large, turned the corner on their offensive malaise that lingered into mid-May. But in the early days of June, Kyle Tucker is still searching.
Tucker is hitting .243 with a .739 OPS through 59 games. He had three hits in his last 28 at-bats entering Wednesday, when he showed encouraging signs with a three-hit game, including a no-doubt two-run homer that was his hardest-hit ball of the season at 107.6 mph off the bat.
Overall, though, Tucker's performance has fallen short of the expectations that came with his four-year, $240 million contract. He has had some hot stretches mixed in, like when he hit .297 with a .910 OPS in the three weeks after he was dropped from the No. 2 spot in the lineup, but he has been unable to sustain his success.
Here's a look at what is going on with Tucker at the plate. All the stats are entering Wednesday, unless otherwise noted.
He's been chasing more frequently
Earlier in the season, this seemed like one of Tucker's biggest issues. He's improved in this regard lately, but his 24.1% chase rate remains high by his standards. In each of the previous two seasons, he chased pitches around 17.5% of the time.
“I mean, chasing overall has been fine. It’s just some of the pitches, I either miss or foul it off and get in a worse count," Tucker said. "Which I’m not used to, especially over an extended period of time. It happens every now and then. But just seems a little bit longer this year.”
Broadly speaking, plate discipline has been at the center of Tucker's inconsistency. That has been puzzling to the Dodgers, as his steady approach is one of the reasons he was the consensus top free agent of the previous offseason.
His swing decisions have led to less favorable counts
While Tucker isn't chasing quite as much as he was early on, he's still swinging more frequently than is normal for him. His swing rate is up to 49.4% (45.2% in 2025), and he's offering at the first pitch 46.4% of the time (36.3% in '25).
"I think that's a part of it," manager Dave Roberts said. "I think that that speaks to not being selective enough, because he is a guy that by nature can run deep counts and still be fine getting to two strikes, but it just seems like he's much more hyper-aggressive than I recall."
By swinging at the first pitch so often, Tucker is falling behind early. That doesn't allow him to work counts the way he's become accustomed to over the course of his career.
He's been making less quality contact
While swing decisions have played a big role in Tucker's performance, he also hasn't been hitting the ball as well as he has in previous years. His batting average is not that far off from his .246 xBA, which factors in quality of contact.
Tucker's average exit velocity is 89 mph, down a tick from 90.1 mph in 2025. He's halved his barrel rate from 10.8% last year to 5.3% this year. He's hit into some loud outs here and there, but two months into a frustrating season, Tucker can only find so much solace in that.
“I mean, obviously, this game is basically results-based for us, on a more personal level and everything," Tucker said. "If you’re hitting the ball well and you’re not getting hits, it’s fine. You did all you can. But you’d like to see more results out of it.”