Originally published by DodgerBlue.com
Kyle Tucker’s struggles this season have been one of the biggest storylines for the Los Angeles Dodgers during the 2026 season.
The player who just signed a $240 million deal is hitting .230/.326/.367 overall, but those numbers are deeply skewed by his performance at Dodger Stadium. Tucker has slashed .189/.286/.272 at home this season, compared to .269/.362/.458 while on the road.
It is a puzzling situation not only because of the drastic difference between home and away splits, but also because players typically perform better at their home ballpark.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said the organization does not have an explanation for this phenomenon and added that it has not been limited to Tucker.
“Freddie’s are pretty stark as well, I think Mookie’s are stark. Teo, I think stark,” Roberts said. “There’s a lot of guys that have been pointed out to me, and I don’t know the answer.”
Roberts added the Dodgers are trying to find ways to help Tucker break out of whatever funk he is in at home, while letting the Freddie Freeman and Teoscar Hernández situation play themselves out.
“I think with Teo and Freddie, I assume they’ve hit well at home before so it’s maybe an outlier kind of thing and hopefully it sort of corrects itself,” he began. “With Kyle, I don’t know the answer. We are digging. He says he likes it here when I talk to him, but obviously the performance hasn’t reflected that. But I don’t know the answer.”
The Dodgers took drastic action last week by keeping Tucker out of the lineup in an effort to find some sort of solution.
He returned to the lineup for all three games against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field. L.A. has a three-game home set against the Pittsburgh Pirates beginning on Friday, but the 29-year-old should not be expected to be benched for an extended stretch quite yet.
Kyle Tucker frustrated by performance at Dodger Stadium
Roberts came to the decision to give Tucker another day off last week after he noticed the left-hander looking more frustrated than usual during the homestand and felt it was best to give him another day off Saturday.
“I think that just kind of reactions to at-bats, whether it’s the first at-bat of a game, and you’re really showing emotion, that’s a tell, from a guy who doesn’t show a lot of emotion,” Roberts said. “So those things, as they build up, for me, that tells me that you need to watch a baseball game and kind of take some of that frustration and put it to the side.”
If you love our reporting, choose DodgerBlue.com as a preferred source on Google.