What Kyle Tucker said about his benching

Recently, Chicago Cubs manager Craig Counsell benched slugger Kyle Tucker due to his ongoing slump.

Despite criticisms from fans and analysts, Counsell maintained that his plan was for Tucker to regain his confidence.

Now, both Tucker and Counsell are opening up about the path forward, per Patrick Mooney of The Athletic.

“We’ll see how it goes,” said Tucker, who stayed on the bench for Tuesday afternoon’s 6-4 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers and sat out a 4-1 Game 2 win as the Cubs swept a split doubleheader at Wrigley Field.

During this recent stretch, Counsell picked up on some telltale signs that Tucker wasn’t up to par.

“You see the physical stuff — that’s easy — it’s a lot of groundballs,” Counsell said. “But we’ve seen the mental struggle, too. Sometimes it results in body language and things like that. We see it in each other when we’re struggling as people. We try to help. We try to support. We try to motivate, in any way we can. But like the mechanics thing, there’s no perfect answers.”

Tucker has received his fair share of boos from Cubs fans, including for not hustling towards first base on groundballs. With so much hanging in the balance, especially the prospect of a contract extension, Tucker remained resolute.

“It’s fine,” Tucker said. “I still got to do my job, regardless of cheers or boos or whatever. Obviously, I got to do a better job.”

Recently, Tucker accumulated a 46.5% ground ball rate during the second half of the season.

“It’s kind of exhausting,” Tucker said. “I don’t know how many times I’ve rolled over to first or second. Regardless, you still got to run down the line, whether you’re out by 50 feet or not.”

The Cubs need Kyle Tucker to get back to form

Altogether, Tucker hasn’t been productive following the All-Star break. Beyond the groundballs, Tucker hasn’t hit a home run in over a month.

He batted .182 with one home run and six RBIs over the course of 26 games. As of now, Tucker is batting .261, 116 hits, 18 home runs, and 62 RBIs.

Meanwhile, the Cubs are 72-54 and are seven games behind the Milwaukee Brewers in the National League Central. Also, they are 2.5 games ahead of the San Diego Padres in the NL Wild Card Standings.

Ultimately, the Cubs still have a good chance to make it to the playoffs. However, they need Tucker to be productive considering that his struggles have coincided with the Cubs sliding in the standings.

When on top of his game, Tucker is consistent at the plate both for average and especially for power.