There might not be a player in baseball facing more disappointment in 2026 than Kyle Tucker, the Los Angeles Dodgers’ $60 million per year player with an OPS in the .600s.
Those struggles saw the Dodgers demote to Tucker to eighth in their Shohei Ohtani-less lineup on Friday. He hasn’t batted that low in a lineup since 2020, back when he was with the Houston Astros.
Part of the reason for that placement was likely the Washington Nationals starting left-hander Jackson Kent on the mound, but the Dodgers obviously didn’t sign Tucker to the largest contract in MLB history by average annual value (factoring in deferrals) planning to bat him in the bottom third of the lineup in any game.
Tucker began the season as the Dodgers’ everyday No. 2 hitter, then got moved to mostly cleanup in late April. He has steadily moved down since then and hasn’t batted earlier than sixth since Aug. 12.
To Tucker’s credit, he responded with a homer in the sixth inning, his first at Dodger Stadium since June 15 and only his third at home all season. The solo homer increased the Dodgers’ lead to 5-0.
Kyle Tucker had reason to smile at Dodger Stadium on Friday.
(IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect / REUTERS)
Even more encouraging — not that a single homer can negate months of subpar play — is that the pitch was a high 99 mph fastball. Tucker has noticeably struggled with high heat all year, and ranked 225th out of 244 players on wOBA against pitches 97 mph or faster this season entering Friday (min. 100 pitches).
A brilliant September still wouldn’t stop Tucker from finishing the regular season with some of the worst numbers of his career, but he and the Dodgers will likely take any reason for optimism they can get. And who knows, reputations can be remade quickly in October.
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