Tribe's Tucker dazzles with bat, glove

There wasn't much that Cole Tucker didn't do for Triple-A Indianapolis on Saturday night.
The Pirates' fifth-ranked prospect collected three hits, scored three runs and made a spectacular defensive play as the Indians defeated Charlotte, 9-7, at Victory Field.

Batting leadoff, Tucker singled up the middle after a seven-pitch at-bat in the first inning, and later crossed home plate on a knock by rehabbing Pirates outfielder Gregory Polanco to get the Tribe on the scoreboard. 
The 6-foot-3 switch-hitter sees himself as a sort of Energizer Bunny for the Tribe offense, a role he relishes.
"It's cool to get to set the tone," Tucker said. "We have a ton of talented guys hitting behind me. It's fun to get that going and be that spark for us."
A bunt single in the fourth by the Arizona native produced a run as two errors by the Knights allowed Jake Elmore to score all the way from first. Tucker came home on another single by Polanco to give Indianapolis a 6-4 lead.
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In the sixth, Tucker reached for the third time on a single to right and scored again on a passed ball by 22nd-ranked White Sox prospectSeby Zavala. It was the second time in his last four games that the shortstop has collected three hits after going 3-for-5 with a homer in Wednesday's 4-3 win over Toledo.
"The three-hit games show up but so do the no-hit games where you have to scratch a walk or find a way to get a RBI and make some stuff happen," he said. "I'm not going to go out and get three hits every night, unfortunately, but I'm trying to focus on having consistent, quality at-bats, continue to get on base and wreak some havoc on the bases."
Tucker also flashed some major leather in the seventh, diving to snag a ground ball up the middle, spinning while rising to his knees and showing a strong arm to throw out Zavala at first.
"That was fun. Those plays show up every once in a while," he said. "I laid out thinking that I wasn't going to be able to make the play but I kind of got lucky and made a crazy, stupid throw and got the guy out at first."

A first-round pick in the 2014 Draft, the 22-year-old spent last season with Double-A Altoona in the Eastern League, batting .259 with five homers, seven triples, 21 doubles, 44 RBIs, 55 walks and 35 stolen bases. 
Tucker dedicated the offseason to becoming a complete hitter, something he credits for the good fortune in the early part of this season.
"Driving the ball to all fields, doing damage in the box," he said of his major focus. "That has kind of carried over into the season. It's a work in progress, obviously, but it's cool to have success coming out of the gate in April."
Pirates No. 15 prospect Will Craig hit his International League-leading sixth home run, a two-out solo shot in the third.
"He's going crazy, it's insane," Tucker said of his teammate. "We joke all the time about how he's on pace for 690,000 home runs. He's a really, really good person and a really, really good player and it is fun to see him start so well."