Slumping Cubs outfielder Kyle Tucker says he feels fine, is open to suggestions

The Cubs hitting slump has been clearly been a group effort.

Kyle Tucker might get most of the attention, since he's the one who presumably will be seeking the largest contract in franchise history this winter.

Tucker was not in Wednesday's starting lineup, since manager Craig Counsell tried to give him a day to reset. Michael Busch was also given a rest day, while Seiya Suzuki got Tuesday off.

All the Cubs regulars have been slumping, other than Matt Shaw, Nico Hoerner and Pete Crow-Armstrong. Before Wednesday's game against Cincinnati, Tucker put no blame on the finger injury he suffered in early June.

“I feel fine,” Tucker said. “I don't really know mechanically what potentially could be the issue. If you have any suggestions, I'll listen. I feel like I'm still swinging at the pitches I want to and taking the ones I don't want to swing at.

“The pitches over the plate, I just end up fouling off or I might swing and miss at times. Then I just end up getting in worse counts and it doesn't work out from there. I still swing at the right pitches, I just need to figure out how to put those forward.”

At the all-star break, the Cubs had four of the top 24 players in OPS. Busch actually led the way at No. 5, with Tucker 14th at .883. Suzuki was 19th and Crow-Armstrong 24th.

Post all-star break has been a different story. Tucker ranks 96th in that time frame with a .696 OPS. Busch and Suzuki are even lower. PCA is hanging in there at No. 35 since the break.

As a team, the Cubs have slid from second to 23rd in MLB in runs scored, between pre- and post-break. They managed just 3 runs and 7 hits in the first two games against the Reds.

“A player like Kyle, it feels like he doesn't struggle, but they do,” Counsell said. “For their standards, they struggle, right? So he's like anybody else in that regard. He's got very high expectations of himself. When he doesn't meet them, he's frustrated.

“So this (day off) is just a mental break. Nothing physical, super confident that he's going to get it back going and he's going to have a great last 50 games.”

Tucker is known for patience at the plate. Among the current top 40 hitters in MLB, only he and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. have more walks than strikeouts.

Tucker struck out in his first two plate appearances Tuesday, which is unusual. But he did go through a stretch in early June, not long after the finger injury, when he struck out 10 times in five games.

He was also asked about a recent tendency to hit the ball on the ground. Tucker's groundball rate has swollen to 41.5% since the break, compared to 30.7% before, according to FanGraphs.com.

“I don't really know,” Tucker said. “I normally hit the ball in the air a lot and hit it pretty hard when I do. Obviously, haven't been doing that a lot. Some of those at-bats, I hit some hard singles, but right at the center fielder or right at the right fielder, they don't get in the gap or down the line.

“That's how baseball goes sometimes. You just try to ride the waves as best you can and try to figure it out and turn it around as soon as possible.”

Boo birds congregate:

With high expectations comes heightened disappointment. There were loud boos at Wrigley Field during Tuesday's 5-1 loss, especially after reliever Andrew Kittredge gave up 4 runs in the seventh inning.

“That's not directed at the player. It's just directed at results,” manager Craig Counsell said. “That's what players have to be good at doing as professionals, is understanding that. It's not personal. It's the fans upset that we're losing. That's understandable. I think that's the best way to think about it.”

Kittredge, acquired from Baltimore last week, saw his season ERA jump from 3.24 to 4.28 with that one rough inning, which started with a walk, single, home run and double.

“I'm a strike thrower, that's what I do well,” Kittredge said. “To lose the zone like that for a couple hitters in that spot is really frustrating.”

Amaya comeback:

Manager Craig Counsell said next week's series in Toronto is the expected return for catcher Miguel Amaya. He's been out with an oblique strain since May 24 and has hit .313 in six rehab games at Iowa so far.