Kyle Tucker Hits the Injured List, as Cubs Keep October in Mind with September in Progress

[Matthew Trueblood]

Image courtesy of © Brett Davis-Imagn Images

After a week of "will they, won't they," the Cubs finally did: Kyle Tucker was placed on the injured list, retroactive to September 6, as he deals with a calf issue. It's the latest setback in a long saga of trouble for Tucker, who is beginning to give off Kris Bryant vibes: a phenomenal player with a studiously professional approach to the game, but one who struggles both to avoid getting hurt and to play well when dealing with even a nagging problem. He's still batted a solid .258/.371/.428 since the finger injury he suffered June 1, but that includes a seven-week stretch in which he had a .560 OPS. Perversely, he hasn't been quite good enough for this to feel like the crushing blow it would normally be. 

In Tucker's place, the team called up not Owen Caissie, but Moisés Ballesteros. Presumably, they intend to use Seiya Suzuki as the primary right fielder for as long as Tucker is out, and Ballesteros will fill in as a part-time designated hitter. He adds a good left-handed bat to their position-player mix, just as Caissie would, but the reality is that the Cubs are running out of hitters who are actually hitting. Suzuki is struggling to generate any power since the All-Star break. Pete Crow-Armstrong now has a knee contusion to deal with, a change unlikely to ameliorate what has been an awful second half in its own right. Lately, the engines of this offense are Dansby Swanson, Ian Happ and Nico Hoerner—fine players, all, but the guys the team counted on only to be secondary weapons at the plate. 

With Tucker out, the most important player on the team is Michael Busch. He's been their best overall hitter this season, despite ugly numbers in the second half. He needs to lock in and get hot to finish the season. The Cubs need someone to carry them to the Wild Card Series, where they can hope for recoveries and big adjustments to get Tucker, Crow-Armstrong or Suzuki going again. The only player who appears capable of that right now is Busch. 

For Ballesteros, the promotion is a welcome third chance to make some degree of an impression. He's been used only sparingly and during very short stints in the majors so far, but his bat shows every sign of being ready for the big leagues. It's not as high-ceiling a profile as the team might hope it will be in a few years, and if he can't catch, he might not be able to find enough playing time develop into the best offensive version of himself on this roster. For the balance of this campaign, though, Craig Counsell's challenge is to get him (and Kevin Alcántara) enough playing time both to get each of them into some kind of rhythm and to rest more senior players. Come October, the team might turn out to need both young hitters in bigger roles than they'd imagined. In the meantime, they need to at least give those struggling veterans a bit more of a chance to reset and unwind the grind of the long season.

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