Chicago Cubs Star To Rest Amidst Struggles

The Chicago Cubs have watched their lead in the NL Central evaporate over the last two months. They sat atop the division for much of the first half of the season just to see the Milwaukee Brewers skyrocket past them. As the division rivals face each other in a five-game series, they are opposite sides of the performance spectrum. The Milwaukee Brewers are coming off a pair of double-digit winning streaks and currently have the best record in baseball. The Chicago Cubs have struggled to stay above .500 over the last two months.

A huge reason for the struggles of the Chicago Cubs has been the struggles of a pair of their premier players. Pete Crow-Armstrong and Kyle Tucker have been in massive slumps as the Cubs watched their division lead collapse. PCA is coming back to earth after a scorching hot first half and should be able to make adjustments moving forward into the final weeks of the regular season.

The more puzzling of the two is Tucker, who will sit out the next couple of games to try to regroup. The team is hoping that the break can help get Tucker refreshed, both mentally and physically.

Chicago Cubs Giving Kyle Tucker a Break

The Chicago Cubs are willing to try anything to get their mojo back. One game into their five-game series with the Milwaukee Brewers, the Cubs are 9 GB of the “Brew Crew,” and with four games coming up in the next three days against their rival, the Cubs are taking an extreme measure to try and help one of their top offensive performers. Tucker has been in a tailspin over the last couple of months. He has seen his production grind to a standstill, and in an attempt to give Tucker a recharge, the team has announced that Tucker will be sitting out the next couple of days.

After Monday afternoon’s 7-0 loss to Milwaukee, Chicago Cubs Manager Craig Counsell spoke to the press and said that Tucker was going to be out of the lineup for a couple of days. “The fans are frustrated, and Kyle is frustrated. When you make outs, it doesn’t look good. He’s trying. It’s just not clicking. We’re going to have to take a step back here, just give him some days off to reset him, hopefully.”

Tucker’s performance is not being helped by a pair of plays that have marked a stark contrast between before and after this season. Before June 1, Tucker was slashing .284/.394/.524 with 12 HR and 39 RBI. That day, Tucker took a rough slide into second base and injured the ring finger on his right hand. Since that slide, Tucker is slashing .255/.373/.413 with 6 HR and 23 RBI. More recently, Tucker fouled a ball off his shin, the same one that he injured last season. His slump has been aggravated since, with the All-Star slashing .182/.333/.239 with 1 HR and 6 RBI in 110 plate appearances.

Reset For An All-Star

Tucker needs a mental reset. This break is going to help him get away from his struggles for at least a little bit. The hope is that if these nagging injuries are a big reason for his struggles, this brief stretch can serve as a physical reset as well. When asked about his physical health a week ago, Tucker said, “I’ve got to go out and do my job regardless of how I feel. I’m just trying to continue that the best I can.”

Chicago Cubs President of Baseball Operations Jed Hoyer chimed in on the possibility of these injuries leading to Tucker’s prolonged slump, saying, “I don’t know whether it still bothers him, whether it created some bad habits along the way with compensating and things like that. There’s no question that when you look at his numbers, it’s had an impact on him, for sure. That’s the nature sometimes of these small injuries, they can do that.”

Tucker has the potential to turn his season around on the other side of this mini-vacation. The Chicago Cubs are going to need him to pick up some more of the offensive load when he comes back if they want to keep a spot in the postseason picture down the stretch of the season. This reset comes at a bad time with the Cubs taking on the division-leading Brewers, but if missing games in August can help pay dividends in October, this decision will be proven to be a wise one.

With Tucker out of the lineup, there will be more playing time for rookie Owen Caissie and Seiya Suzuki, who is mired in a slump of his own. If Tucker eventually ends up on the injured list, that could provide a third opportunity of the year for Moisés Ballesteros.