Cubs' Kyle Tucker Benched amid Slump, Craig Counsell Says RF is 'Frustrated'

The Chicago Cubs have struggled since the All-Star break, and a major contributing factor has been the inconsistency of star player Kyle Tucker.

As a result, he will be on the bench for a handful of days.

"We're going to have to take a little step back here, for sure, and just give him some days off to reset him, hopefully, because he's frustrated," manager Craig Counsell told reporters Monday after dropping the first game of a doubleheader against the Milwaukee Brewers.

Chicago made a splash this offseason when it acquired Tucker from the Houston Astros, and everything started off exactly as the front office surely envisioned.

Tucker made his fourth consecutive All-Star Game and anchored the team's lineup as it established itself in first place in the National League Central. It seemed like the Cubs were going to be a surefire playoff team and dangerous come October in part because of his presence in the middle of the order.

Michael Cerami of Bleacher Nation cited FanGraphs data and noted Tucker slashed .291/.396/.537 (158 wRC+) through June 28 as one of the best hitters in baseball.

And then the struggles started.

He has a grand total of 26 hits, five extra base hits and one home run in his last 167 plate appearances, which has brought his season-long totals down to .261/.374/.447 (131 wRC+). The nosedive in performance has been magnified by the team's inconsistency as well, as the Cubs are 13-15 since the All-Star break.

The NL Central race is essentially over, as the Brewers extended their lead to nine games with Monday's victory. The fans are unhappy about it and have let their voices be heard by booing Tucker and others of late.

"The fans are frustrated and Kyle is frustrated," Counsell said. "When you make outs, it doesn't look good. He's trying. It's just not clicking. We're going to have to take a step back here, just give him some days off to reset him, hopefully."

It should be noted Tucker suffered a finger injury in June, which could be impacting his performance.

"I know it did bother him for a while," Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer said earlier this month, per MLB.com's Jordan Bastian. "I don't know whether it still bothers him, whether it created some bad habits along the way with compensating and things like that. There's no question that when you look at his numbers, it's had an impact on him, for sure. That's the nature sometimes of these small injuries—they can do that."

Despite being all but eliminated from the NL Central race, the Cubs are still in playoff position as the top wild card in the NL. They will need Tucker down the stretch and into October if they are going to make any noise in the playoffs.

With that in mind, they seem to be taking more of a long-term approach and sitting him in an effort to break him out of his slump or help his finger heal.