PHOENIX – You don’t have to see Shohei Ohtani to know where he is on the Dodgers’ complex. You know where he is because of the fans stampeding towards him. You know where he is by their screams when they see him.
Kyle Tucker, on the other hand, travels in silence.
On any other team, an incoming four-time All-Star outfielder witha $240 million contractwould be the center of attention. On the two-time defending World Series champion Dodgers, he’s just another player.
That isn’t a problem for the29-year-old Tucker, who referenced his low-key demeanor athis introductory news conferencelast month.
“I try to go out and play my game regardless of the situation,” Tucker said.
Tucker received a warm applause earlier this week when hestepped into the batter’s boxfor his first Cactus League plate appearance TheWorld Series heroesin front of and behind him received much louder ovations: Miguel Rojas and Will Smith.
A couple of days before that, Tucker walked to one of the team’s practice fields for a morning workout with Smith and Freddie Freeman by his side. Most of the fans lined up along a waist-high fence nearby shouted Freeman’s name. Some shouted Smith’s. Tucker was practically unnoticed.
Tucker was the last of the Dodgers’ key players to address the media this spring training, waiting to do so until after he played three innings in a win over the San Diego Padres on Sunday.
“For me and the people I talked to about how he goes about it, there’s nothing negative about it,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “I love guys who just come to work and value playing and love playing and competing. He just wants to win. He’s not a self-promoter. He’s not going to give you guys a lot of great sound bites.”
The Dodgers have Ohtani for that. Or Freeman. Or Mookie Betts. Or Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Or Blake Snell. Or … you get the point.
Source: California Post – Breaking California News, Photos & Videos
