Kyle Tucker has improved in some ways during the last two months, but has been worse in others. The Los Angeles Dodgers are still waiting for Tucker to reach his full potential, but manager Dave Roberts has not lost faith.
The 29-year-old has been committed to finding a solution to the issues that have plagued him this season, which Roberts deeply appreciates, according to Bill Shaikin of the L.A. Times.
“The thing that I’ve appreciated since Day 1 is, he hasn’t run from his struggles,” Roberts said. “He’s owned it.”
Tucker’s performance in July has been a mixed bag though. Compared to June, he has a higher batting average and significantly cut down on his strikeouts. However, there has been a severe lack of slugging, with just two extra-base hits and zero home runs during the month thus far.
Tucker’s .259 slugging percentage and .256 wOBA translated to a 58 wRC+ in July. Tucker had a wRC+ of 93 in June, which was notably his worst month this season.
Things were looking up not long ago after Tucker made some adjustments to his swing mechanics and approach. He hit .417/.548/.583 over a seven-game streak from the end of June and into July.
There is still reason to believe Tucker’s performance this month has been better than it first appears. While his wOBA from July 1 to July 20 was .289, his expected wOBA (xwOBA) was .375.
That suggests he has been unlucky at the plate because xwOBA takes exit velocity, launch angle and sprint speed into account in order to determine how often players should theoretically reach base.
Taken together, Tucker’s xwOBA and reduced strikeout rate of 11.1% are good indicators of improvement.
Kyle Tucker making key improvements
Roberts believes Tucker is at his best when he controls the strike zone and hunts for pitches he can do damage with.
Tucker’s high chase rate has been an issue for most of the season. He is chasing pitches 25% of the time this season, which still ranks in the 78th percentile among Major League hitters but is significantly higher than the 17.6% chase rate he posted in 2025.
Two of Tucker’s three most-productive seasons have come in years where his chase rate was in the 87th percentile or higher.
The good news is that his chase rate is on a downward trajectory, falling .06% since June 26.
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