Astros Future Player of the Week: Kyle Tucker
It was a difficult week for the Houston Astros farm teams. With the four that are currently in season action, they stumbled to a 5-20 record (Fresno 2-4, Corpus Christi 0-6, Buies Creek 1-5, and Quad Cities 2-5) this week. As teams they struggled, but there were still some individual performances noteworthy of attention. With a week that I am sure the organization is glad to have over, Kyle Tucker stood out a bit more than the rest and is this week’s Astros Future Player of the Week.
Tucker, 20, started the week off with Buies Creek a little slow. I assumed that his 0-for-3 was potentially my fault since I had mentioned him as a PotW candidate, but luckily for me that wasn’t the case and he got back on track and in a big way. Tucker would have back-to-back two-home run games, and would finish the week strong. Overall, he went 8-for-23 (.348), with seven runs, three doubles, a triple, four home runs, and seven RBI. His batting average raised from .286 at the start of the week to .305 at the end.
The Houston Astros selected Tucker in the first round (fifth overall) of the 2015 draft out of high school. He spent his first professional season after the draft with both of Houston’s Rookie League teams. 2016 would see Tucker play for Class-A Quad Cities and Class-A Advanced Lancaster and was very successful at the higher levels. This season, Tucker is taking the league by storm and also adding some power to his game. His eight home runs for Buies Creek this season, is one shy of his total last season. He is hitting a ton of doubles so far, and has an element in this game which plays well everywhere. Speed. He has the ability to swipe bases which he showed last year with 31 total, and so far this year with 10 already. One thing that is to be expected for a player that is still learning this game at this level is the amount of strikeouts. He is striking out a bit more this season, but it is still early.
One thing that is for sure, Kyle Tucker is a player to keep an eye on as the season and his career continues.
HONORABLE MENTIONS
There were a few others that turned in some good performances on a dreary week. Jason Martin who player for Buies Creek turned in a 7-for-22 (.318) performance with three bombs and six driven in. All three of his home runs came on May 7th against the Myrtle Beach Pelicans. Fresno Grizzlies’ Derek Fisher also had himself a nice week. He went 8-for-19 and is currently in the midst of a 14-game hitting streak. Nine of those games are multi-hit games, with two of those being three-hitters. Fisher has raised his average from .279 to .325 during the streak. Catcher Max Stassi went 7-for-16 with a home run and two RBI for the Fresno Grizzlies.
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**Photo Credit: Hunter Reed**
