"Since signing Tucker (who was officially announced on Wednesday), there has been plenty of discourse about what the Dodgers' lineup will look like with him in fold. I've seen him mocked anywhere from second to sixth in the lineup. For a player with his talent, ability and contract, I don't foresee him hitting any lower than fifth in the lineup. In fact, Dave Roberts said at Tucker's introductory press conference that "second or third" is where he envisions him hitting in the lineup."
"Since Hernandez played right field last year, let's look at the Dodgers' production from left field last year: Don't be fooled, though. Most of that production is propped up by and his 19-game, 64-plate appearance stint playing left field - .431/.453/.741, 226 wRC+. Michael Conforto saw almost all the time in left field last year and it didn't go well: .202/.308/.341, 86 wRC+. Adding Tucker and moving Hernandez to left field made all the sense in the world."
"Before we get to the projections, let's look at what Tucker's 2025 performance would have looked like in Dodger Stadium. This is a spray chart of all his balls in play in 2025 when the Cubs played at home. This, obviously, doesn't take into account environmental factors, but this is what his chart looked like, with Dodger Stadium as the stadium of choice."
Kyle Tucker represents a major upgrade to the Dodgers' outfield and overall lineup, joining Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman, Teoscar Hernandez, and Shohei Ohtani. Moving Hernandez from right field and installing Tucker addresses weak left-field production from Michael Conforto and benefits Hernandez’s positioning. Tucker’s spray-chart data suggests he would have hit seven more home runs at Dodger Stadium in 2025, raising his expected total to 29 compared with 19 at Wrigley Field. Tucker overperformed his expected home runs with the Cubs. Pitching him in the middle of the order is expected given his talent, ability, and contract.
Read at Dodgers Digest
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]