The Official Cole Tucker Can't Hit MLB Pitching Thread

GreenWeenie · Post by **GreenWeenie** » Tue May 10, 2022 5:38 pm

Speaking of multiple times per game....Perhaps the most overdue thread of all threads.

I'm sure that Cole Tucker's a nice guy. The guy can't hit.

Bobster21 · Post by **Bobster21** » Tue May 10, 2022 7:40 pm

132631313A0331313A3D31540 wrote: Speaking of multiple times per game....Perhaps the most overdue thread of all threads.

I'm sure that Cole Tucker's a nice guy. The guy can't hit.
A lot of things this organization does are just baffling. The continued use of Tucker is one of them. Obviously a very bad 1st round pick but it wasn't Cherington's pick. The whole regime that picked him is gone. So there's no need for anyone to save face by keeping him around and hoping he becomes adequate.

In 1991 Chuck Noll drafted Huey Richarson in the 1st round. Richardson was a bust and when Bill Cowher took over the next year, he cut Richardson. It wasn't Cowher's pick and he didn't want to be saddled with a poor player. So first rounder or not, he was gone. It's time for the current regime to jettison a mistake of the prior regime. There is no upside to Tucker.

CarolinaBucco · Post by **CarolinaBucco** » Tue May 10, 2022 8:35 pm

I wonder if VanMeter will be hitting 5th or 6th tonight? Need to get that guy back into the lineup. Might want to consider moving him into the 3 hole.

Bobster21 · Post by **Bobster21** » Tue May 10, 2022 9:12 pm

456774696A6F68674473656569060 wrote: I wonder if VanMeter will be hitting 5th or 6th tonight? Need to get that guy back into the lineup. Might want to consider moving him into the 3 hole.
He's not in the lineup. But Tucker is.

GreenWeenie · Post by **GreenWeenie** » Tue May 10, 2022 9:28 pm

Tucker's so bad that I'd have a Pitcher hit and a DH hit for him. I know that's been sarcastically suggested before.

Baffled less. Very few expected a lot from the 2022 season that I think that the brass considers the season to be AAAA or Extended Spring Training. Thus, the "rest" and "pitching time," and the like.

As for Tucker, specifically, my guess is that they figure, "why not?" Maybe if they give him enough appearances, he can find a way to hit the ball better?

They surely value his ability- or, at least- willingness, to play multiple positions, which, in turn, circles back to their ability to "rest" other guys by putting him out there.

All in all, he has little trade value. I have to think that some of this playing time is in hopes of getting something for him when the time comes.

Of course, if they replaced him with some suspect, that suspect's stopwatch begins to tick.

fjk090852-7 · Post by **fjk090852-7** » Thu May 12, 2022 6:56 pm

Tucker has been optioned to Indy. About time!

Bobster21 · Post by **Bobster21** » Thu May 12, 2022 8:05 pm

Tucker is batting .175 and has not been above .200. But he started half the games including 5 of the last 8. And today they suddenly decide to option him. 2 weeks ago they used Sam Howard in a high leverage situation trailing 2-1 in the 9th and had him implode with his trademark wildness with 3 walks and a HBP. A few days later they DFA'd him. The fact they that used these players--whose roster status we now see was on thin ice--as if they were reliable, productive players suggests that Shelton, BC & Co are using the season as extended spring training. They gave Tucker every chance and finally decided he didn't belong at the MLB level. But they continued to run him out there regardless of how that dead spot in the batting order hurt the team. Similar to using Howard in the 9th inning of a 2-1 game just days before releasing him.

GreenWeenie · Post by **GreenWeenie** » Thu May 12, 2022 11:14 pm

2D21207B727B737E79667C4B0 wrote: Tucker has been optioned to Indy. About time!

I'm not going to bang on the guy. It's a tough game. They have to do what's best for the club. It's best for him, too.

SyrBucco · Post by **SyrBucco** » Fri May 13, 2022 1:18 pm

Tucker could not hit lefty pitching at all. Glad to see he's trying the "just left-handed" approach, but the odds are long at this point. I really wanted Tucker to be part of the 2nd base platoon this year. Hope he figures it out. He's fun to watch in those rare times when he's hitting.

Bobster21 · Post by **Bobster21** » Fri May 13, 2022 2:01 pm

I don't think we'll be seeing Tucker in a Pirate uniform again. Here's a quote from Shelton in the PG:

“I think he knows there are some things he needs to work on,” Shelton said. “He understood the reasoning with it being a left-handed situation, and just where we’re at. The other thing is, some of it is based on performance. To be at the big leagues, you have to perform.”

It's not that Tucker just couldn't hit right-handed. He can't hit left-handed either. In fact, this year he has rarely batted RH, getting 1 hit in 14 ABs (.071). The bulk of his ABs have been LH vs RHP. But in that situation he's only hitting .204 (10 for 49). For his career, he's batted .220 as a RH batter and .187 as a LH batter. I don't know how much that's going to improve in AAA. I think if he had been out of options they would have DFA'd him but had nothing to lose by optioning him to Indy. But the idea that he's going there to work on hitting only LH suggests it's to get him used to batting LH vs LHP. But as Shelton noted, he has simply not performed. Not from either side of the plate against any pitching.