Welcome back to the Cubs Beat newsletter. Jordan Bastian has covered baseball for MLB.com since 2005, including the Cubs since the 2019 season. |
CHICAGO -- There were all those pregame hours logged on the infield dirt with the help of Cubs bench coach Andy Green and infield coach Jonathan Mota this year. There were the long days in Spring Training, the years of drill work in the Minor Leagues, plus the groundwork laid at Stanford and as a high schooler in Oakland.
When Nico Hoerner earned his first career Gold Glove Award on Sunday night, the second baseman thought back even further.
“I especially think of my dad and just the time that he spent with me, just the endless ground balls,” Hoerner said. “A lot of great people make things like this possible. It’s cool to get recognition for it.”
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Anyone who has watched Hoerner play defense should not be surprised by him taking home some hardware for his work in the field. Hoerner has certainly played Gold Glove-caliber defense in prior years, but his path to this trophy was a bit circuitous as he moved around the diamond to fit Chicago’s needs.
This past season, Hoerner found a home at second base, where he teamed with fellow Gold Glove winner Dansby Swanson to form baseball’s top defensive middle-infield duo. Hoerner moved to that spot on a full-time basis after playing a stellar shortstop in 2022, when he ranked second only to Swanson (22) in outs above average (13).
Hoerner had played second in the past -- he was even a Gold Glove finalist in 2020 -- but that does not mean the transition was simple. In previous seasons, he had to be ready for shortstop at a moment’s notice, and was even tested at third and in the outfield on occasion.
“Not everybody gets to see how hard guys work behind the scenes,” Cubs left fielder Ian Happ said. “To watch how well he played shortstop last year, and then to make the transition over as smoothly as he did. They’re similar positions, but I’ve never gotten to play shortstop in the big leagues. I have played second and I know that they’re not the same.
“He spent a ton of time this spring working on the pivot at second base, working on making that different delivery -- the backhand flip. I know how much he put into it. So, to see him be honored and the respect that goes along with that, as deserving as he was, it’s really, really cool.”
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Across the 2020-23 seasons, Hoerner has 45 OAA overall, ranking sixth in baseball -- just a handful behind Swanson (51). That includes 27 OAA while in the lineup as a second baseman, another 19 at shortstop and one at third base (plus minus-two in the outfield).
After Swanson signed a seven-year, $177 million contract with the Cubs last winter, Hoerner was required to slide back to second base. Knowing first hand the work that Hoerner put in to further master the position and develop a strong rapport with Swanson, the shortstop was thrilled to see his teammate pick up his first career Gold Glove.
“He earned every bit of it,” Swanson said. “I felt like he just impacted the game in so many ways for us this year, all around, but especially defensively. And just what he was able to do, first year kind of making that full transition over to second base, he made it look so much easier than it actually is. So for him to be able to get rewarded in the way that he did is pretty cool.”
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Swanson and Hoerner became the first middle-infield duo to win Gold Glove Awards in the same season for the Cubs. Do you know how many shortstop-second baseman partnerships have won Gold Gloves in the same year in NL history?
A. Nine
B. Seven
C. Five
D. Three
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The Silver Slugger Awards, which recognize the best offensive performers at each position in both the American League and National League, will be unveiled at 5 p.m. CT on Thursday on MLB Network. The Cubs have three candidates for the award after their work this season.
• Swanson is up for a Silver Slugger at shortstop, alongside Philadelphia’s Trea Turner, San Diego’s Xander Bogaerts and New York’s Francisco Lindor.
• Seiya Suzuki and Cody Bellinger are among seven outfield candidates, along with Atlanta’s Ronald Acuña Jr., Los Angeles’ Mookie Betts, Arizona’s Corbin Carroll, Philadelphia’s Kyle Schwarber and San Diego’s Juan Soto.
• Bellinger is also a candidate for a Silver Slugger as a utility player, given his work between center field and first base for the Cubs. Betts, San Diego’s Ha-Seong Kim and Cincinnati’s Spencer Steer are also candidates in this category.
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In the 2023 Fielding Bible Awards, Swanson took home the honor at shortstop and was the only unanimous selection for any position among the 2023 winners. He joined Javier Báez (2020) as the only Cubs to win the award at shortstop.
The ‘23 Players Choice Awards were also given out earlier this week. Bellinger was named the NL’s Comeback Player of the Year by his peers, given his strong production with the Cubs following multiple injury-marred seasons. MLB’s Comeback Player of the Year awards for the AL and NL will be revealed later this month.
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“I got great views of Dansby’s plays. There were a bunch of hard-hit balls in the six-hole that I thought I was going to have to come in and field. And before you know it, he’s flying in front of me and making a throw from his knees. That was pretty impressive.” -- Happ, on Swanson’s Gold Glove play at shortstop |
C. Five.
Swanson and Hoerner are the fifth duo to win Gold Gloves in the same season in the NL. They joined Gene Alley and Bill Mazeroski (1966-67 Pirates), Dave Concepcion and Joe Morgan (1974-77 Reds), Edgar Renteria and Fernando Vina (2002 Cardinals) and Brandon Crawford and Joe Panik (2016 Giants).
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