Dodgers need Kyle Tucker to live up to his $240 million contract

Scoring the walk-off run on a feet-first slide, Shohei Ohtani leaped up and violently clapped his hands and slapped Dalton Rushing’s outstretched palm.

The player who drove in Ohtani and Rushing in the Dodgers’ 5-4 comeback win over the Marlins on Monday night wasn’t nearly as animated. Kyle Tucker casually high-fived first base coach Chris Woodward and removed his helmet as if he’d made the last out of the second inning.

“Did he smile?” manager Dave Roberts joked.

He did.

Barely.

Tucker finally grinned when Freddie Freeman embraced him. The $240-million outfielder continued beaming as he was mobbed by his team on the infield grass.

Freeman joked, “That might be the first time he smiled all day.”

Or all season.

If you can’t already tell, Tucker doesn’t smile often — or show much of any emotion.

Not as if he’s had much to celebrate.

The purported grand prize of the most recent free-agent class, the $60-million-a-year left-handed hitter is batting just .236, even after his ninth-inning heroics. His batting average and OPS are the lowest of any of the Dodgers’ regular starters, and his early-season slump already prompted Roberts to drop him in the lineup from second to fourth.

Of his walk-off single, Roberts said, “He needed it.”

But Tucker wasn’t visibly excited until his teammates practically forced a smile out of him. How was he feeling inside?

“I started going to first and it wasn’t quite loud yet until we actually ended up winning the game there and Sho scored,” Tucker said. “So I was, like, ‘Did I get the score wrong?’” 

At this stage of his recounting of the scene, Tucker cracked a smile.

So he has some personality.

“I think he’ll start to loosen up as time goes on, I do,” Roberts said. “I think even Shohei when he first got here was a little bit more reserved compared to where’s he’s at now. So I do think that guys are working on him, and I think he’ll loosen up and won’t lose that edge that he has.”

Freeman just wanted Tucker to feel comfortable in his new environment.

“I’m just happy for him,” Freeman said. “Because we all go through it, we all grind, we all have our struggles throughout the course of the year. And, obviously, when you do it at the beginning of the season, it gets magnified, and, obviously, with the contract. So for him to come through in that situation — it’s always going to find you — and for him to not be passive, be aggressive in those situations, and keep going, keep swinging, and see him come through when we need him to, it’s huge for us and I know it’s huge for him.”

Freeman, who signed with the Dodgers in 2022 after 12 seasons with the Braves, was understanding of the pressures that come with playing for a new team. Tucker played seven years with the Astros, after which he spent a season with the Cubs.

“It’s a new city,” Freeman said. “Living in a new place. His family just got here. There’s so many variables that are going on.”

Asked if his walk-off single could lead to something more for him, Tucker was nonchalant as usual.

“Hopefully,” Tucker said. “We’ll see how the next few games go.”

However, Tucker argued his numbers didn’t reflect the quality of his recent at-bats.

“I’ve had some good contact,” Tucker said. “Not a whole lot to show for it.”

Tucker listed a few instances in which he was robbed of hits in a recent series against the Cubs.

“Hit the ball decently well, just didn’t get knocks on it,” he said. “That happens sometimes. There’s some good defenders in this league.”

The remarks were sleep-inducing. Then again, this unexcitable part of Tucker could also explain how he’s managed to remain upbeat enough to put in extra work with the team’s hitting coaches.

“I think that he’s very consistent in how he approaches each day,” Roberts said. “He is traditionally, typically a slow starter, as I understand, but he’s a pro and he wants to be out there and still play good defense.”

As for Tucker’s personality, Roberts said, “I think I’ve given up already on trying to read him. I really have. I think that’s just who he is, and it’s not personal to anybody. Just doesn’t give anyone a whole lot.”

That doesn’t mean Roberts won’t push him.

Literally.

Rather than shake his hand in the postgame celebration on Monday night, Roberts playfully pushed Tucker in the chest.

“Got him to smile a little bit,” Roberts said.