'He's on the right path:' Tucker refining what works with his swing

BRADENTON, Fla. – The conversations happened towards the end of the 2021 season. After a year of experimenting and searching for how to make his swing work, Cole Tucker was chatting with Derek Shelton and Don Kelly.

Their message: “We want it to be simple.”

After some more toying around, Tucker found something foundationally. The leg kick was drastically reduced, he planted his front heel more and his focus was to make sure he was stable in the box.

The early results were encouraging, posting an .892 OPS over his final 16 games of the season. It was a small sample, but it gave him confidence to work to refine those areas rather than continue to experiment.

“I had success with it last year and really tried to build on it in the offseason,” Tucker said. “I’ve been working on it here in spring training, trying to get it rolling and do it as well as I can. I think that’s going to bring me the most success.”

In his second at-bat of Friday’s spring training opener, he got a small taste of the success that swing could bring:

Tucker went deep in the third inning of Friday’s 4-3 over the Yankees at LECOM Park and nearly added another in the fifth, having to settle for a triple at the wall in right-center.

Throw in a ranging catch on a deep pop up in the top of the third and it’s safe to call it a good first impression in the presumed shortstop competition.

“That was fun,” Tucker said with a wide grin.

A lot more fun than he was having at the end of camp last season.

This wasn’t the first time Tucker has heard about simplifying or being more stable in the box. It’s been an ongoing process throughout his career, and potential solutions don’t always stick. It’s why, this time almost exactly one year ago, the Pirates held him back in Bradenton to continue to focus on his swing rather than go to the alternate site and prepare for a potential call up. Finding something that stuck mechanically was far more important.

“There’s been a lot of different swing experiments in my career, full disclosure,” he joked. 

When asked if he looks at video of where that swing was a year ago, he pulled out his phone and opened the photos app.

“I look in my phone all the time. I’m constantly watching video and other games and trying to see what other guys do.”

Taking a look at how that swing changed over a year, those changes from a year ago are obvious:

There aren’t a lot of hitters or players like Tucker. Tall and thin, he has strength and raw power, but when he gets out of sync and uncoordinated, the whole swing and quality of contact suffers.

“I’m a tall, lanky guy,” Tucker said. “I’m every bit of 6-4 and I'm not 240. I’m closer to 200. Hitting with so much movement, whether that’s with your hands or your sway or your head – it makes it really hard when Chris Stratton is throwing 95 miles an hour. If you’re moving all over the place or moving your hands in a certain direction to try to get to the ball, it’s harder to hit with longer movements.

“I’m already a long guy so being shorter [with my swing] gives me a better chance of getting the barrel to the ball more often than not. That’s really been my focus for the last several months, for sure.”

He was able to work with hitting coach Chilli Davis to help build on that foundation this winter. (Since Davis was not employed by a team, the long-time major-leaguer and hitting coach was allowed to be in contact with players.) That way, he was able to continue to receive major-league instruction to help refine that swing at a time when almost nobody was getting.

“I think he's on the right path,” Shelton said. “The credit goes to him… I think at times, previously, we'd seen him lose his legs a little bit. He worked really hard on it this winter. When you work on something and see the immediate results in a game, it's definitely a bonus.”

That’s what makes this latest experiment so important for Tucker’s career as a Pirate. While he does have one minor-league option year remaining in the event he doesn’t earn a job out of spring training, the club also already have Oneil Cruz, Liover Peguero, Rodolfo Castro and Tucupita Marcano as top 30 prospects on the roster as well, not to mention Nick Gonzales, MLB Pipeline’s No. 1 second base prospect, about a year away in Altoona.

If Tucker doesn’t claim the shortstop or second base job this year, he might not have another chance with the Pirates. It’s not the first time he’s had to compete for a job, and he’s not backing away from it:

“It’s just part of the game and part of the business and what we all show up to do: Compete,” he said. “Against the other team, with each other and with ourselves. It’s just the name of the game. It’s fun, man. I respect all these dudes in here and want to be as good as I can be and want us to be as good as we can. It’s just healthy competition. It’s part of the sport and Shelty’s really challenged us with that going into camp.”

MORE FROM THE GAME

• Tucker's offseason workout partner, Greg Allen, made the most of his Pirates debut, hitting the eventual game-winning homer and stealing a base.

The Pirates claimed the outfielder, who just turned 29, off waivers in October. He had a solid season with the Yankees' Class AAA affiliate, posting a .907 OPS over most of a season there, and even did well in a cameo in the majors, but the Yankees couldn't guarantee him a roster spot and the Pirates took a flyer. 

With his new club, he has an opportunity to earn a major-league job or perhaps even a spot in the opening day lineup.

"I think you just try to make the best out of each and every day," Allen said about his opportunity with his new club. "Not knowing when or how long that opportunity might last, but just trying to make the most of it. Trying to take it day by day and be the best you can to find some type of improvement and rope."

• Wil Crowe's first outing of the year started shaky, allowing a pair of runs in the first, but after some conversations with new catcher Roberto Pérez in the inning, he tweaked his approach and put up a scoreless frame in the second.

"He’s so smart back there," Crowe said. "He knows exactly what he’s trying to do and what he sees. He sees it live, and he wants you to throw off that while you’re on. Instead of that after-game adjustment, there’s that in-game what he sees and what he knows is like really, really efficient. It’s good to have him back there.

"After the innings he says, ‘The four-seam’s got some jump. Stay on it. Stay back. Your four-seam is doing it today. The sinker’s good, but can do the other stuff.’ It’s just good to have him there telling you those things during the game, then you can make those adjustments."

Stuff wise, Crowe was consistently in the 92-94 mph range with his fastball, though he relied on the changeup more than usual, throwing it 14 out of his 47 pitches.

"That’s something we’re gonna try and work more on this year, throwing the changeup more and being more aggressive with it."

• Crowe was followed by Stratton, who threw an inning then Jerad Eickhoff, who got the win for his three scoreless frames. The plan for Eickhoff originally was to go two innings, but he was sent out for another because he was so efficient.

Kyle Nicolas and Adrian Florencio each tossed scoreless innings, and while he allowed a homer, Blake Weiman got the save.

• Factoid of the game: Tucker's home run traveled 429 feet. In his major-league career, the only one that traveled further was his first in his debut, which went 431 feet.

(I'm going to try to bring these back as a regular feature for the regular season. No promises for spring training.)

THE SCHEDULE

The Pirates will stay in Bradenton Saturday to take on the Tigers. Mitch Keller will make his spring debut against Casey Mize, with first pitch coming at 1:05 p.m.

THE CONTENT

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