When Cody Bellinger first came up to the bigs in 2017, he quickly became all the rage for media pundits on the MLB shows because of all the homeruns he was launching. In fact, if "Launch Angle" needed a poster boy, I'd select Cody Bellinger as the candidate. He was the kid that was deemed the savior in LA, the kid that would help them finally get that ring that has eluded them for 30 years.
Then he faced the Astros in the World Series and he got exposed. Any sort of breaking ball, he was toast. Any well located fastball or slider, he was an easy ground out. On occasion, he found the fastball, like when he found one off of McHugh's arm, but overall, nothing Bellinger showed me told me he was an elite hitter unless he was like most major leaguers and hunt the fastball and hit it. Then his swing could do damage.
So why am I talking about Bellinger in a Kyle Tucker thread?
Because I think there is a similarity that is not to be missed here. Had Tucker been fed fastball after fastball like Bellinger in his last season stint in 2017, you would have seen a very different performance. But two things I saw from Tucker: 1) He was jumping at the ball instead of letting it come to him and 2) He never worked a count much but when he did, he crushed the ball. One night in Oakland, he hit a triple to right center field because he had a 0-2 count by laying off the pitches in the dirt. Knowing he would get a fastball, he looked relaxed and sure of himself instead of the kid I would often see jump at the ball. He got that fastball and he absolutely crushed it. The entire bench erupted when he arrived at third base and he actually cracked a smile. Even Justin Verlander was whooping it up. That is how you hit in the majors. But sadly that was not the case for most of his time in the bigs. Why was he jumping at the pitch? I dunno, but the go to answer would probably be he wanted it too badly, he wanted to help the team, and he was wearing the tag of "Next Big Hitting Prospect" and he basically was not doing the things he knows he can do. Can he do better? I dunno, like Yogi said "Baseball is 90% mental, the other half is physical".
Cody Bellinger? He's doing well, but he's not what I would call an elite hitter, but he's darn good though. Kyle Tucker? His numbers say he's going to be good, but at his age and perhaps mental approach, he needs just a little more work or seasoning. Does that mean he's going to be at least Cody Bellinger good? Well, I wouldn't bet against it. I think the kid can very well be a darn good major league hitter and that works in a lineup like Houstons.