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Cubs News

Cubs handing Nico Hoerner the keys to leadoff spot

6 months agoTony Andracki

The ripple effects from Mike Tauchman’s injury will impact quite a bit of the Cubs’ roster.

The team will be without the veteran outfielder for at least the next month as he recovers from a Grade 2 groin strain.

As far as playing time goes, the answers are pretty easy for the Cubs: Pete Crow-Armstrong will play center field on a near daily basis with Cody Bellinger manning either first base, right field or DH. Seiya Suzuki can also DH – as he did in Tuesday’s game – or play right field while Michael Busch can also slot in as the DH or at first base.

Prior to Tauchman’s injury, the Cubs always had to sit either Tauchman, Busch or Crow-Armstrong against right-handed pitchers because there wasn’t enough room to play everybody.

As for the batting order, Tauchman now vacates the leadoff spot. He was often penciled in atop the Cubs lineup against righties, making 24 starts in the leadoff spot.

Craig Counsell will give Nico Hoerner runway to lead off full-time now.

Hoerner actually has the most starts in the leadoff spot on the team (29 games) but he hasn’t consistently spent time up there. He has started just 5 games in the top spot since May 10 but he will now get an opportunity to be a tablesetter for this Cubs lineup.

“I’m hoping that Nico can take it and we can use this as an opportunity to really just get Nico going,” Counsell said. “That’s really important for our offense – just to get him going as much as anything regardless of where he hits in the lineup.

“That’s the goal. But we will look at it every single day and try to make the best choices.”

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Hoerner is no stranger to the leadoff spot. He spent a bunch of time up there last season, leading the team with 74 starts at the position.

He was a spark for this lineup last year, pacing the Cubs with 98 runs and 43 stolen bases to go along with a .346 on-base percentage and .283 average.

Hoerner’s underlying metrics are in line with last season or actually exceeding what he accomplished at the plate in 2023. His walk rate has improved from 7.1% to 9.4% and his strikeout rate is at a career-low 9.8% (an elite number).

He is hitting line drives at exactly the same clip as last year (25.5%) and the average exit velocity and ground ball rates are about the same.

But he entered play Tuesday with a .245 average and .667 OPS which is down 30 and 50 points, respectively, from his career lines.

Part of it has been health as he missed a week in May with a minor hamstring injury and then missed a few games earlier this month with a broken bone in his right hand.

Counsell said Hoerner is “doing good” with the hand but he has not quite been able to get into a groove at the plate.

“He relies on squaring the baseball – he puts the ball in play a lot and he has the strength of not striking out,” Counsell said. “He’s got to hit the ball hard and find holes and he finds more holes because he does put the ball in play a lot and gives himself more chances.

“And it just hasn’t quite clicked recently, but that it’s in there for sure. And we’re hopeful we can get him going here.”

Hoerner is far from the only player in the Cubs lineup who is having an underwhelming offensive season. But he can be a sparkplug for this team with his elite contact and ability to impact the game on the basepaths.

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