Kyle Tucker rapidly finding his groove with the Chicago Cubs

If there were any doubts about the new Chicago Cubs slugger Kyle Tucker's production after a poor showing in spring training, we can now file those complaints as overreactions. Yes, it was a historically poor start for the perennial All-Star, who batted just 3-30 in spring. Still, it took just five regular season games for Tucker's slash line to improve to the point that proves he's not somebody you need to worry about getting it going.

The batting average will rise, but Tucker's line is now up to .250/.348/.500, and the on-base and slugging percentages stick out. What sticks out more is that before Saturday's three-hit outburst against the Arizona Diamondbacks, Tucker had five hard-hit balls with an exit velocity of 95 mph or higher but only recorded one hit in those at-bats. That's a bit of bad luck, considering an average batting average on hard-hit balls is .500. Therefore, you knew it was a matter of timing for Tucker got his swing down, and they started falling in.

This was a beautiful swing from a completely locked-in Tucker, who launched his first home run as a Cub Saturday night. He hit a ground-rule double with an exit velo of 105.8 mph, and the homer clocked in at 103.6 mph. It's an early small sample, but with 20 at-bats in the regular season, Tucker has been scolding the ball and probably not quite getting the results he deserves.

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Kyle Tucker's tenure in Chicago may be short and sweet

Kyle Tucker's importance to the 2025 Cubs is paramount to the team's success, Tucker's looming free agency, and also Jed Hoyer's job. Given that Hoyer, who is on a contract year with Chicago's front office, got aggressive by trading for Tucker, it's clear he is on the hot seat if he doesn't get the Cubs back to the Postseason in 2025. Under the Hoyer regime, the Cubs have failed to make the playoffs every year since Hoyer took over as team President.

A nagging thorn in Hoyer's side is that he would love to sign Tucker to the extension he earns this year, or at least re-sign him in free agency when Tucker inevitably tests free agency. The problem is, it's unlikely that Cubs owner Tom Ricketts will be willing to shell out that kind of cash for any player.

They pursued Shohei Ohtani and came up well short. They didn't even try for Juan Soto, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, or other recent superstars who signed long-term deals. The team has never been willing to go above $200 million for a player, so shelling out upwards of $500 million for Tucker seems unrealistic.