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CHICAGO (WGN) — Chicago Cubs star outfielder Kyle Tucker was diagnosed with a hairline fracture in his right hand back in June, according to ESPN’s Jesse Rogers.
Tucker injured a finger on his right hand sliding into second base against the Cincinnati Reds on June 1. X-Rays on that finger initially came back negative, but sources familiar with the follow-up imaging told Rogers it showed a slight fracture on the top of his hand, near where the pinky and ring finger meet.
Rogers said imaging done later in June showed the fracture was healing, but it was still impacting Tucker’s swing, leading to poor mechanics.
According to Baseball Reference, Tucker had his best offensive month of the season in June. He posted a .311/.404/.578 slash line with a .982 OPS, but Tucker has struggled since the beginning of July.
In 26 second-half games this season, he has posted a .182/.333/.239 slash line with an OPS of .572.
It’s numbers like those that led to manager Craig Counsell deciding to sit him for multiple games in hopes that Tucker rediscovers his mojo in the batter’s box.
“The fans are frustrated. Kyle’s frustrated and it’s unfortunate cause Kyle—when you make outs, it doesn’t look great,” Counsell said on Monday. “But he’s trying. It’s just not clicking. We’re going to have to take a little step back here and just give him some days off to reset him, hopefully.
“We’re not coming up with solutions for him, and he’s not coming up with solutions. So, sometimes you have to take steps back to go forward again.”
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Eli Ong
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