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Jed Hoyer's Latest Kyle Tucker Comments Show Cubs Extension Plans

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Jon Conahan | Last updated May 18, 2025 1:37 PM ET

There are a few players in Major League Baseball who take professional at-bats. That's much different than being a good hitter, as there are plenty of those around the league. However, for somebody like Chicago Cubs slugger Kyle Tucker, he does everything perfectly at the dish.

Tucker, who only has 24 strikeouts and 178 at-bats, knows how to work all parts of the field. Even when he's down in a count, he doesn't panic and makes sure to get his A-swing off.

Speaking to reporters about what Tucker has done at the plate, Jed Hoyer, who will ultimately make the decision on what the Cubs want to do with him in the next year, said that he's been impressed with his day-to-day performance at that plate.

That's the perfect sign of who Tucker is as a player.

“What impresses me is just the day-to-day at-bat quality,” Hoyer said of Tucker, per Marquee Sports Network. “In this game, you’re going to go up and down. You’re going to go in and out of light slumps and you’ll get hot. But just the quality of the at-bat every day — he sees pitches, he swings at the right pitches, he wants to play every single day, he’s an excellent baserunner.

“He just does everything really well. And I do think there’s a contagious aspect to the way Ian (Happ) and Kyle take at-bats on the entire team.”

With Hoyer saying this, he's essentially telling himself that he needs to do whatever it takes to keep Tucker in Chicago.

Whether that's a $500 or $600 million deal, there's no way he should be making these type of comments if the plan isn't for him to stay around for the next decade.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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