HOUSTON (SportsRadio 610) - Astros star right fielder admits it is still weird adjusting to Major League Baseball's new rules this season.
Pitchers now have 15 seconds to begin their motion with the bases empty and 20 seconds with a runner on. If they don't, they are assessed a ball.
Batters not in the box by the eight-second mark will receive a strike. But Tucker takes a while in the batter's box between pitches, putting dirt on his hands, for which he wears no batting gloves, and taking time to think his way through the at-bat.
"Yeah, it was a little weird at first. It still is, a little bit," Tucker told SportsRadio 610. "I think with the 20 seconds, it's plenty of time. Fifteen, you've got to get in there a little quicker. But you've just got to just figure out how to maybe get in the box a little quicker, or try and calm yourself down a little faster than you'd normally have to."
It does not appear to be hurting his performance at all.
Through the Astros' first three games of the season, he's hitting .300 with a home run and an RBI. He connected on a two-run homer in Friday's win. It traveled 437 feet, the third-longest homer of the young season with his teammate Yordan Alvarez's 442-feet Opening Day blast besting him by two spots.
It was also the furthest home run Tucker's hit at Minute Maid Park in his career.
Tucker followed it up Saturday with a pair of RBI singles, the first of which appeared to be a beneficiary of banning the shift, another new MLB rule for 2023. Tucker got the barrel out in front of a changeup to hook it into right field, just past the outstretched second baseman Elvis Andrus.
His second RBI was a go-ahead single on a fly ball in the seventh inning.
Astros manager Dusty Baker anticipates the shift ban being something that helps all of Houston's left-handed hitters, especially Tucker.
"They would flood this whole (right) side of the field, so it should make for more offense," Baker said.
It's a big year for Tucker. He lost arbitration with the Astros, but the team would like to sign him to a contract extension. There have been off-and-on negotiations since last year, but nothing has materialized yet.
He was among five Astros to be honored Sunday afternoon for their first and second team All-MLB awards last season. Jose Altuve, Yordan Alvarez and Framber Valdez received first-team honors, while closer Ryan Pressly and Tucker were named to the second-team.
If Tucker keeps playing the way he has in this opening series against the White Sox, it could be his biggest season yet.
Brandon Scott is the editor for SportsRadio610.com. Follow him on Twitter @brandonkscott. Reach him directly via email: brandon.scott@audacy.com.
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