Chicago Cubs Newest Acquisition Ranks Highly on MLB Best Players List

The Chicago Cubs newest acquisition, Kyle Tucker, has been ranked very highly on the best players list heading into 2025.

Sep 24, 2024; Houston, Texas, USA; Houston Astros right fielder Kyle Tucker (30) hits a home run against the Seattle Mariners in the fourth inning at Minute Maid Park. Mandatory Credit: Thomas Shea-Imagn Images / Thomas Shea-Imagn Images

The Chicago Cubs made what could go down as the biggest trade of the 2024 offseason when they acquired superstar outfielder Kyle Tucker from the Houston Astros.

The Cubs fleeced the Astros, sending only third baseman Isaac Paredes, pitcher Hayden Wesneski, and prospect Cam Smith for the proven outfielder.

Tucker has played a major part in the Astros' success over the years after making his Major League debut in 2018. Since that time, he has batted .274/.353/.516 with 125 home runs, 417 RBI, and a 139 OPS+ across 2,561 plate appearances in 633 games.

His career thus far has led to 2025, a contract year for the star.

Fangraphs projects that it will be a good one, ranking Tucker as the 18th-best player in MLB ahead of the campaign.

While Tucker did spend the majority of 2024 on the injured list, playing in only 78 games, he still batted .289/.408/.585 with 23 home runs, 49 RBI, and a 181 OPS+ across 339 plate appearances.

Injuries have not plagued him throughout his career like they have others, with the superstar playing in 505 games of a possible 546 since the start of the 2020 season.

Tucker massively improved his already great plate discipline in 2024, walking at an unheard-of 16.5% clip, while striking out only 15.9% of the time.

For his career, he has walked at a 10.8% rate while striking out only 16.0% of the time, so while his walk rate may come back to earth a bit in 2025, his strikeout rate was right in line with his career marks.

BABIP was not a factor for Tucker in 2024, either, with a .282 mark in 2024 compared to a .284 mark for his career.

The outfielder has been unlucky with balls in play throughout his career, and that was no different this year.

It is hard to imagine a full season of what he did in 2024, but now in a contract year, it could be even more insane than originally imagined and could even culminate in the outfielder's first career MVP award.