Hoerner's minor swing adjustments paying major dividends for Cubs

PHILADELPHIA -- The change that Nico Hoerner has focused on making with his swing over the past year is a subtle one. What is not difficult to see is the result, as the Phillies can attest after two straight nights of hits sprayed all over Citizens Bank Park off the bat of the Cubs second baseman.

In an 11-2 romp over the Phillies on Wednesday night, Hoerner turned in a performance that put his entire offensive game on display. There was a perfectly placed single to shallow center. There was a home run hammered to left-center. There was a slashed hard hit up the right-field line. Hoerner also stole a base that led to a run.

“He looks like a more dangerous hitter,” Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer said. “He looks fantastic right now -- just like the end of last year.”

Hoyer made those remarks during a pregame chat with reporters on Wednesday -- one night after Hoerner helped spark a 10-4 win over the Phillies. In that victory, he delivered two crucial hits to help fuel a comeback, following which manager Craig Counsell referred to the second baseman as “the engine” of the offense right now.

Hoerner then went out and collected a career-high five RBIs, giving him the most RBIs (eight) he has ever produced in a two-game span. Combined with the rest of the lineup’s production, it added up to a surplus of support for lefty Shota Imanaga, who limited the Phillies to one run over six innings and struck out 11, with 26 swings and misses -- tying a single-game record for a Cubs pitcher in the pitch-tracking era (since 2008).

The engine got an upgrade on Wednesday night.

“He’s a machine right now,” Counsell said.

Hoerner’s three-hit night gave him a .324/.410/.507 slash line with nine extra-base hits and 23 hits overall through the Cubs’ first 18 games. This comes after Hoerner hit .333 over the final month last year, then hit .419 in Chicago’s eight playoff games. He has hit at a .330 clip since Sept. 1 last season, while leading the Majors in regular-season hits (58) during that span.

“The bottom line is he’s not satisfied,” Cubs assistant hitting coach John Mallee said. “He knew there was more in the tank. He was searching for it. He wants to be great. Not good. Great.”

After Tuesday’s win, Hoerner noted that Mallee has played a key role within the second baseman’s work with the Cubs’ hitting group over the past year. Hoerner said he was able to unlock “some pretty special stuff” that has helped him maximize his offensive traits, which include making contact at an elite rate.

“It’s, ‘How do you make the most of that skill set?’” Hoerner said. “I think it comes with pitch selection and cleaning up some stuff with my lower body, just giving myself some space by moving underneath myself in a bit of a cleaner way. … It’s never one thing, and it takes a while to really make things your own.

“I wouldn’t call it a big mechanics change or revamp or anything like that, but I just feel like I’m embracing my skill set well.”

Prior to Wednesday’s game, Mallee explained that Hoerner has worked diligently on reorganizing the order in which he rotated into his swing. In the past, Hoerner would often begin to turn his torso slightly ahead of his hips. It was crucial to reverse that part of the chain to help Hoerner correct some issues with his bat path.

Mallee pointed to Hoerner’s ground-ball rate, which was 34.5% this season entering Wednesday. That rate was in the 44-45% range in 2024-25 and sat between 46-50% across the ‘21-23 seasons. It topped 52% prior to that.

"He's learning how to rotate better and in a proper sequence,” Mallee said, “which is allowing him to stay behind the ball and take the steepness out of his swing. And that’s allowing him to match planes with the pitch much more efficiently.”

Mallee said one byproduct has been Hoerner being better able to attack different types of pitches lower in the strike zone.

In the third inning against lefty Jesús Luzardo, Hoerner got his first run-scoring hit on a 1-1 sweeper that broke inside. In the fifth, the second basemen jumped on a first-pitch fastball that was low and in for a two-run homer. Facing lefty Kyle Backhus in the sixth, Hoerner got to a 2-2 sinker for the two-run single up the line in right.

“He’s been incredible,” Counsell said. “Again, the ball down the right-field line with men on base and two strikes, that’s just a Nico at-bat. The home run was a beautiful swing on a pitch down in the zone. He’s doing a heck of a job, man.”