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Dodgers looking for Kyle Tucker to be ‘on-base machine’ in lineup

March 15, 2026

GLENDALE, Ariz. – Sometimes the best thing the second-highest paid player in baseball can do this year might be to keep the bat on his shoulder.

“For me, I just see him as a guy if he gets on base, however he gets on base, that’s the biggest – that’s something we’re looking for and something we’re counting on,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said of the role he envisions for Kyle Tucker. “Having Mookie (Betts) and Freddie (Freeman) behind him and Will (Smith) – if he’s a guy who gets on base at a high, high clip, then everything else will kind of fall into place.”

Tucker has done that throughout his career. Over his All-Star seasons the past four years, Tucker had a .366 on-base percentage and averaged 70 walks per season.

Slotted at No. 2 in the Dodgers’ projected batting order, Tucker would be followed by three hitters with a history of cashing in scoring chances. Mookie Betts is a career .327 hitter, Freddie Freeman .332 and Will Smith .297.

“I mean, I try and do that regardless,” Tucker said of keeping it simple and just trying to be the “on-base machine” Roberts called him. “Overall, I think our lineup is pretty tough, and when you can’t really get guys to chase, I think it just makes it a little tougher for the other teams to pitch us. We’ve got some really good hitters and guys that control the zone really well over here. So I think it’s gonna be a kind of tough matchup for other pitching staffs.”

Tucker has not been very productive when he has swung the bat this spring. He is 3 for 15 in Cactus League play. But he has six walks in 22 plate appearances.

“That’s good,” Tucker said of the walks. “That means I’m swinging at good pitches and just taking my walks and just trying to be aggressive when I need to be and patient when I need to be. So I mean, if I just swing at good pitches over the plate and see what happens after that. But I feel pretty good with my at-bats overall.”

Roberts has liked the approach he’s seen from Tucker so far.

“It seems like every at-bat he’s running a three-ball count,” Roberts said after watching Tucker draw two walks and hit a home run in Friday night’s game.

“Obviously, he’s got the respect of the league. But also, he’s very stubborn in his zone. He still values getting on base, seeing pitches. He knows what he’s hunting. To have him at the top of the order, be an on-base guy, that’s what we’re looking for.

“I think him just posting and in our lineup – he’s an on-base machine. He can hit for average. He can hit for some power. But I just think being around the talent we have, the numbers will speak to it. We’ll see what level. But I just think he’s a heckuva player. For me, it’s just continue to be who you are and we’ll see where it takes us.”

GOLD GLOVE

A Gold Glove winner with Houston in 2022, Tucker’s defense (by most metrics) has slipped since. The Dodgers are challenging him to return to that Gold Glove level.

“I think the one thing is he’s won a Gold Glove. Trying to get the defense back to where it should be, that’s one part of it,” Roberts said of his expectations for Tucker this season. “Everyone knows he played banged up last year with the foot, the ankle. The first half was fantastic.

“Getting off on the ball, the jumps – that’s something we talked about when we were courting him. That’s something he self-admitted he wants to get better at and get back to his caliber of play. Getting off the ball, that’s probably it because the arm strength is there, the accuracy is there. Now the health component is there. So I don’t see why he can’t be in the conversation of being one of the elite right fielders in the game.”

ABS FAIL

Through Friday’s games, the Dodgers were tied for the fewest challenges under the Automated Ball-Strike (ABS) Challenge System – and dead last in success rate. The Dodgers got just three calls overturned in their first 14 challenges.

“We haven’t been good, clearly,” Roberts said.

Dodgers catcher Dalton Rushing challenged a call during Saturday’s game against the White Sox. When the graphic was shown on the scoreboard and the call was overturned, Rushing raised both arms to the sky and pumped a fist.

“I was just happy to finally get one right,” he joked later.

The Dodgers are planning an organization-wide “forum” on the ABS system for Tuesday, Roberts said.

“We’ve got some information we’ve accrued over the spring,” he said. “It’s real, and I think it’s good for the game. But we’ve got to get better at it.

“Our idea of the strike zone individually, collectively, just hasn’t been great as far as where the ball’s at, where the pitch is at. I honestly don’t know the answer right now.”

The team hasn’t gotten to the point of talking about “the nuances of strategy” involved in when to use challenges, Roberts said.

“We’ll be better,” he said. “I’m certain of that.”

COMINGS/GOINGS

Mookie Betts was back in camp on Saturday after returning to Los Angeles for the birth of his third child, his second daughter.

Team Korea was eliminated from the World Baseball Classic, so Hyeseong Kim was traveling on Saturday to rejoin the Dodgers. Robert said Kim will be in the lineup for one of the Dodgers’ split-squad games on Sunday, playing second base.

Orange County Register

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Dodgers looking for Kyle Tucker to be ‘on-base machine’ in lineup

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