Chicago Cubs Gold Glover receives well deserved recognition

The Chicago Cubs have one of the better defenses in Major League Baseball, with seven Gold Glovers on their roster. With first baseman Michael Busch emerging as a perianal Gold Glover at the position, there is the potential for more this season.

The Cubs second baseman Nico Hoerner is currently on the sidelines recovering from surgery he had earlier this offseason. The Cubs finally released an update on Hoerner’s progress and what his plan will be for this Spring Training.

Even though Hoerner is on the sidelines he still received recognition for his play on the field.

Chicago Cubs Nico Hoerner named top 10-second baseman in baseball

In a post by MLB Network on their X account, they released their list of the top 10 second basemen in the game today and the 27-year-old Hoerner was named as the eighth-best second baseman in Major League Baseball beating out Andres Gimenez of the Toronto Blue Jays. Gimenez is considered the best overall defensive second baseman if you don’t factor in his offense.

Here are the Top 10 second basemen in the Big Leagues, according to The Shredder! @MLBNow | #Top10RightNow pic.twitter.com/nTk1JGohWU

— MLB Network (@MLBNetwork) January 17, 2025

Since making his debut with the Cubs back in 2019 at just 22 years old Hoerner has been outstanding both offensively and defensively. In his six seasons as the holder of the keystone position, Hoerner has a career slash line of .278/.338/.381 for an OPS and OPS+ of .719 and 100. Hoerner has also shown the ability to steal bases with having 102 in his career.

Hoerner’s well-deserved recognition

When looking at the Gold Glovers Baseball Savant page from last season it’s not hard to see why Hoerner was rated so highly. For his defense, Hoerner ranked in the 88th percentile when it came to his fielding value. Hoerner was also exceptional when it came to his range ranking in the 95th percentile.

A deeper look into the future All-Stars offensive metrics Hoerner is a true bat-to-ball type of hitter consistently making contact with ranking in the 92nd percentile for squared-up percentage at 31.7%. Being a contact hitter Hoerner has a low strikeout rate of just 10.3% and close to a comparable walk rate of 6.9%. This is evident as well with Hoerner being in the 99th percentile for whiff and K percentage.

The Cubs need Hoerner’s glove and bat to be successful

It is really hard to find players nowadays who teams can count on to be durable and consistently be out on the field as well as adding in high levels of both offensive and defensive production. Hoerner is one of those players having played over 150 games in each of the past two seasons. The Cubs will need him to be ready to play Opening Day to have a good start to the season. With the update being that Hoerner will:

“focus on his rehab over the offseason and be assessed at the start of Spring Training in February to determine his next steps.” per MLB.com

Hopefully, all goes well and Hoerner will be able to see some at-bats in Spring Training to further get himself back to where he needs to be.