Free-agent-to-be Kyle Tucker is making the most of his year with the Cubs

NEW YORK — With sparkling views of the city skyline and Lake Michigan, it looked like an image the Chicago Cubs would include in a recruiting presentation. Standing in the sunshine, Kyle Tucker posed on a boat with a group of teammates and Wrigley Field clubhouse workers. The All-Star outfielder posted the photo on his Instagram account, the social media version of throwing chum in the water.

That kind of reaction was not Tucker’s intention, but Cubs fans are looking for any signs about his future. Whether cautiously optimistic or deeply skeptical, they want to know whether this big-market franchise is prepared to pay the projected No. 1 player in the next free-agent class. Tucker does not offer any clues about his preferences, letting his game do the talking.

“I’ll see some comments every now and then,” Tucker said. “I’m sure some people probably overanalyze and read between the lines a lot more than others, versus we just had a ‘Team Boat Day.’ It’s fun. Fans have a good time with it.”

Tucker credited Justin Turner for organizing the June 30 outing, which was open to all players, their families and the clubhouse staff. Winning always helps team chemistry, but the Cubs are a tight-knit group, a reflection of a low-key superstar who just got here and doesn’t know where he will be next year.

The countdown began last December when Jed Hoyer’s front office acquired Tucker in a win-now trade with the Houston Astros. The deal closed only a few days after Juan Soto agreed to his record-setting, 15-year, $765 million contract with the New York Mets. The megadeal approved by Mets owner Steve Cohen vividly illustrated the rising cost of doing business.

Shortly after Opening Day, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. signed a 14-year, $500 million contract extension with the Toronto Blue Jays, forgoing free agency this coming offseason and further clearing a path for Tucker, who soon enough may find himself at the center of a bidding war.

“I don’t necessarily worry about it too much,” Tucker said. “If something happens, something happens. The only thing I can really control is just going out there and doing the best I can, putting up numbers and trying to help us win games.

“In my eyes, as long as I just try and do that, and do my part in helping us win, I feel like everything else just happens. I can’t really control something that’s not in my control or try to manipulate something or force something.”

Tucker is a left-handed hitter who lets the game come to him, understanding how pitchers are trying to set him up and get him out. The little things matter to Tucker, a Gold Glove defender and a plus baserunner who competed in 15 playoff rounds with the Astros. Instead of presenting himself as a one-man corporation, Tucker wants to be one of the boys.

“It was just a fun little off day,” Tucker said. “We were like, ‘We should do a Boat Day every day.’”

Standing 6-foot-4 and carrying a lanky, 220-pound frame, Tucker approaches home plate with a sense of calm, looking more like someone who just rolled out of bed than one of the sport’s most dangerous sluggers.

It’s not quite sluggish, but Tucker’s mannerisms and consistency give off a certain vibe. In many ways, it’s an ideal personality for a great hitter. Performing at this level requires an ability to focus intently on each pitch and then try to forget what just happened.

It’s all so smooth.

“Kyle has a way of making the game look easy,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. “Nobody else is going to say it’s easy, and Kyle’s not going to say it’s easy. But when you watch Kyle in the box, he just has this way of making what a lot of people think is the hardest thing in sports kind of look easy at times.

“Sometimes, that’s frustrating to watch for hitters, honestly. But I also think his in-the-present approach is a really good lesson for all of our hitters.”

Tucker sets an example by following his routine without telling others what to do. At a time when major-league coaching staffs are bigger than ever, and so many aspects of the game can be measured, Tucker likes to go by feel.

He learned by watching all those accomplished hitters in Houston and seeing everything it took to win the 2022 World Series. He has already accumulated 418 plate appearances this season and played in 94 out of 95 games. He knows what he needs to do to clear his mind and feel loose.

That could mean 10 swings off a tee and 15 flips rather than early rounds of batting practice, the usual pregame hitting program and extra sessions in the batting cage. As the Cubs have learned in recent years, having your process is great, but it has to come with results.

“I don’t necessarily want to hit myself out of a good swing,” Tucker said. “With anything, you can get to a point where you start overthinking stuff. Or you can start feeling something kind of different and you start overanalyzing it. Then you go up there with that kind of thought process, and it’s a little all over the place and you can’t really lock in.

“For the most part, it’s like the saying: ‘Quality over quantity.’”

Even around team officials, Tucker can come across as a little reserved, though still very pleasant. He has that same laid-back demeanor and a dry sense of humor during interviews with reporters. But if you could look into the clubhouse dining room after a game, you would see Tucker at a table surrounded by teammates.

“Holding court,” Cubs pitcher Matthew Boyd said.

That dynamic was always hoped for, but not necessarily guaranteed when the Cubs traded away a potential Rookie of the Year (Cam Smith), an All-Star third baseman (Isaac Paredes) and a major-league pitcher (Hayden Wesneski, who’s now recovering from Tommy John surgery). In giving up 14 potential years of club control over those players, the Cubs got one season to maximize Tucker’s talents and make their pitch.

The Cubs will enter the last day before the All-Star break in first place. After Sunday afternoon’s game at Yankee Stadium, Tucker, Boyd and Pete Crow-Armstrong will travel to Atlanta for the All-Star week festivities. The Cubs won’t dominate the event the way the future World Series champs did in 2016 — and the club has experienced some lulls recently — but the offseason plan is coming together with a mix of experienced players and young talent.

Tucker’s hot start helped give Crow-Armstrong more space to develop offensively near the bottom of the lineup. In watching the rhythm of Tucker’s at-bats, Seiya Suzuki recognized how to be more aggressive.

Boyd, who threw eight scoreless innings in Saturday’s 5-2 win over the New York Yankees, carried the rotation in the absence of multiple starting pitchers and won’t pitch in the All-Star Game so that he can preserve strength for the second half. All these elements of the club are connected. In their worst full month so far, the Cubs went 13-13 in June.

“What’s special about Tuck is he makes everybody else better,” Boyd said. “By the way he carries himself, by the way he goes about his business, there’s something about having a guy that has no panic, no worry, at least outwardly. That brings a lot of calm and resolve to a team on a day-in, day-out basis. It’s really special.”

There have been no excuses from Tucker, no prolonged adjustment period after previously spending his entire career in one organization. The brutal hitting conditions at Wrigley Field earlier this season did not get in his head. Even when he’s not the star of the game — Crow-Armstrong has delivered so many highlight-reel moments — Tucker’s still quietly doing stuff to help the Cubs win a series and maintain momentum.

The numbers across the board — a .282 batting average, 17 home runs, 22 stolen bases, 56 RBI, 68 runs scored, a .384 on-base percentage and an .887 OPS — point to a player who seems immune to contract-year pressure.

“I don’t really know what affects him in general,” Cubs shortstop Dansby Swanson said. “He just goes up there and takes care of business each and every day. There’s also something to be said about the personality and confidence to — assimilate is not the right word — but be able to embed yourself in a team and want to be a part of the team and want to be a part of something bigger than yourself.

“It just goes to show you what he’s about in general. New team — and there’s obviously the possibility that he only is one year with a team — but it doesn’t change how he goes about any of his business.”

For both sides, it probably makes the most business sense to see what the market will bear for an elite player who will be 29 years old next year.

“Not really,” Tucker said when asked if his thinking about free agency has evolved since he was traded to the Cubs seven months ago. But putting together the largest contract in franchise history would always require a leap of faith.

Chicago’s baseball operations department has verified Tucker’s immense value and confirmed his easy-going manner in the clubhouse. The Ricketts family ownership group and the business side of the organization are seeing the reenergized crowds at Wrigley Field. For now, the bottom line is Tucker is having fun playing for a team he thinks can win the World Series this year.

“I’m not going to let any contract or money stuff kind of dictate what I do out on the field,” Tucker said. “I’m going to go play, and steal bases, and hit and field and everything else, regardless of that. I’m just doing what I can out there. And the rest will take care of itself.”