Chicago Cubs Star Seeking Treatment for Nagging Calf Injury
Chicago Cubs right fielder Kyle Tucker is reportedly heading home to Tampa to seek medical treatment for his left calf injury. The 28-year-old star has been out since September 2 with a left calf strain. The initial hope was that Tucker could rest on the bench for a couple of days to heal the injury. The hope then turned to Tucker being ready to come back after a brief 10-day IL stint. When that stint ended yesterday and Tucker hadn’t made any progress with his rehab, the team and Tucker decided to try this treatment.
Tucker has worked with this Tampa=based group before, including as part of his rehab last season for a shin injury and for offseason treatment. The Chicago Cubs are sending a member of their own medical staff down with Tucker as well. With less than two weeks to go in the regular season, Tucker and the team are hoping that this approach can help kickstart the outfielder’s rehab and have him ready to rejoin the ball club by the time playoff baseball begins.
Kyle Tucker Heading Home for Calf Rehab
The Chicago Cubs announced Wednesday morning that their star outfielder Kyle Tucker is taking a unique approach in trying to rehab his left calf strain. The 28-year-old hasn’t made any progress since suffering the injury two weeks ago and with the postseason rapidly approaching, he is heading home to see a medical team he has worked with throughout his career, including to rehab an injury he had last season with the Houston Astros.
Tucker had left the Chicago Cubs September 2 game against the Atlanta Braves with what was described at the time as “calf tightness”, and that he would sit on the bench for a couple of games to recuperate. When tightness turned out to be a strain, the team placed Tucker on the 10-day injured list to help get Tucker as healthy as possible for the final two weeks of the regular season. Now that his time on the IL is supposed to be over and he still hasn’t made any progress, Tucker and the team are going to see if working with a familiar medical team can jumpstart some improvement.
The calf isn’t the first injury Tucker has dealt with this season. Earlier in the 2025 campaign, Tucker dealt with a finger injury that tanked his productivity for over a month. Taking a break towards the end of August helped Tucker with the finger injury, but the same hasn’t worked for the calf and now the Chicago Cubs are hoping that this treatment is the answer to get their star outfielder back in the lineup soon.
Decision Background
The news of this decision from Tucker and the Chicago Cubs was broke by the team’s manager Craig Counsell in his media availability Wednesday morning. Counsell told reporters,“We’re aligned with Kyle and this is the best way for him to make some improvements. Unfortunately, we plateaued and we weren’t making progress. That’s frustrating for Kyle, and that’s the concern about getting him back soon.”
Counsell also shed some light on who initiated the idea to go see this medical group, saying, “Yeah, it was certainly his idea. I think because one, we’re not making progress, and two, because he had success last year to try the different set of eyes, essentially. We’re hoping for the same success and hoping to get him back on the field.” Getting Tucker back on the field is not only paramount to the postseason aspirations for the Chicago Cubs, but with the slew of absences in the outfield, the team could use Tucker for the final games of the regular season.
Seiya Suzuki is still out with an illness and Owen Caissie is in MLB’s concussion protocol. The Chicago Cubs are filling the gaps with Kevin Alcántara and Willi Castro for the time being, but they aren’t a permanent solution for right field. Getting Tucker back is going to be one of the main storylines for the team for the rest of the year. If the Cubs want to make any noise in a wide open National League this October, they are banking on this treatment in Tampa Bay working and getting their All-Star back, and soon.
