Houston Astros Flashback, 2018: Players Called 2021 Team MVP Candidate, Kyle Tucker, "Ted"
During the spring following their 2017 World Championship, Astros players recognized the similarities between "The Splendid Splinter" and their heralded 21-year-old slugger.
The Houston Astros’ clubhouse was at it again not three months after clinching the 2017 World Series Championship from the L.A. Dodgers. The most fun fraternity for those with a valid MLB contract was now renaming the team’s top position player, the former Mr. Kyle Tucker, then a fuzz-faced 21-year-old outfielder.
Spring training had just gotten underway, championship rings were being crafted and sized, and Mike Fiers, breaking camp with the Detroit Tigers after signing a free agent deal, was making his inevitable rendezvous with obscurity, nearly two years from his eventual loose-lipped infamy.
It all started with MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart and his late February tweet, reporting that “Someone took Kyle Tucker’s nameplate above his locker and wrote the word ‘Ted’.”
Tucker, you see, has a left-handed swing many have said is reminiscent of 1966 Hall of Fame inductee and 19-year veteran, Ted Williams. Tucker’s is a smooth, classic left-hander’s swing that can overpower fences to the pull side as easily as it produces a poke the other way. He never overswings.
“He’s got a little bit of a different setup, he’s got a little bit different hand path. But his bat-to-ball skills are really good,” then-Houston manager AJ Hinch had explained at the time. “He’s strong, he’s got a little lower hand slot for being such a big guy.
“People talk about these graceful left-handed swings. He’s got more of a physical swing with the way he goes about it, so it looks different. The bat-to-ball skills are pretty elite from what we’ve seen in the Minor Leagues, and then the first impression here (at spring training camp).”
Wisely, McTaggart got the jump on those who might think he was comparing the 6’4″, 190-pound Tucker with the “Splendid Splinter”: “I don’t think people are comparing him to Ted Williams or saying he’s going to be Ted Williams, as much as his swing looks like Ted Williams’. It does. What he does with it? Who knows?”
Now, the Astros and their fans know. Tucker was drafted in 2015, fifth overall, three slots below another Houston mainstay, third baseman Alex Bregman, in an unbelievable jackpot of talent acquisition made possible by a 70-92 record the year before. At least that putrid record made Tucker’s slot possible. The Astros secured the #2 pick for failing to sign 2014 draftee, pitcher Brady Aiken, now with the Cleveland Nine.
The Genesis of “Ted”
“That came out in the morning meeting a few days ago, and the boys took it upon themselves to rename him,” Hinch told the Houston Chronicle, explaining the newly-minted potential HR nightmare. “So he’s going to go by ‘Ted’ from here on out. They got him a nice nameplate.”
Indeed, his new locker nameplate in the Ballpark of the Palm Beaches clubhouse read “TED” in black marker. The Astros refused to name the alleged prankster who instructed the equipment manager to make the switch, maybe another potential scandal of interest to Fiers.
“So you can call him any name you want as long as he keeps homering,” Hinch said cheekily, this time to MLB.com. “He’s not going to take down that nameplate; he’s going to have to wear it as a young guy. It’s fun. There’s great camaraderie on this team, and our guys love the new guys that come in. We’d had his brother [Preston Tucker] on the team, so they’re familiar with the family, and we had heard about Kyle Tucker long before he arrived here.”
The ‘Stros Take To Twitter
Joining in the fun, Houston pitcher Lance McCullers, Jr. responded with, “Correction, it’s just ‘Ted’ like McLovin,” shamelessly name-dropping the popular character from the 2007 Jonah Hill/Seth Rogen film comedy, “Superbad.”
Fellow outfield prospect Myles Straw (now an Aiken teammate in Cleveland, and Houston’s 12th round draft pick in 2015, far below Tucker) took a photo with the Tampa native in Houston’s spring dugout, tweeting, “This ‘Ted’ guy is OK.”
But, it was pitcher Collin McHugh’s (now with Tampa Bay) tweetin’ digits that made this “Ted Tucker” thing an actual “Ted Tucker” thing: “Kyle Tucker can’t come to the phone right now. Why? Because he’s #Ted.” His sense of humor and clubhouse camaraderie: Another reason to miss McHugh.
Outfielder Derek Fisher (now plying his wares with the Milwaukee Brewers) eschewed social media to give his definitive two cents to the Chronicle: “Now he’s just ‘Ted.’ Ted, and only Ted. He’s not Tuck, he’s not Teddy, he’s not Ted Williams.”
Fisher extended Tucker’s resemblance to Williams: “He doesn’t wear batting gloves. That’s the coolest part.” And, like his older brother, “Ted” grabs a handful of dirt between pitches and rubs his hands with it.
Upon hearing Fisher blurt his new name, Tucker turned around in his chair, slowly raised his hand and feigned a sheepish wave.
“I’m fine with it,” Tucker said. “I don’t make a big deal out of anything.” While teammates joke around, Tucker said with sincerity: “There’s no pressure or anything.”
And, Between the Lines?
Tucker hit a career-high 25 homers and stole 21 bases across two Houston affiliate levels in 2017. He finished that season with Double-A Corpus Christi, batting .265 with a .837 OPS, adding 16 home runs and 64 strikeouts in 287 ABs.
He made his MLB debut July 7, 2018, going 1-for-4 against the Chicago White Sox with an RBI. But, not before then-GM, Jeff Luhnow, fought off endless deal inquiries from rival teams at every trade deadline and offseason.
Tucker and Forrest Whitley were deemed “hands-off” by Luhnow for seemingly years, and while Whitley continues to battle back from injuries and Tommy John surgery, Kyle Tucker is positioning himself for multiple All-Star Game appearances in the long-term, and a team MVP with playoff stardom in the near-term.