MESA, Ariz. -- The grounder off the bat of Colorado's Elehuris Montero forced Nick Madrigal to his left. The Cubs second baseman swiftly gloved the ball, pivoted and fired it to shortstop Nico Hoerner, who then finished off a textbook double play.

That moment in the fourth inning of Friday's spring matchup with Colorado was routine, but it was also the culmination of the defensive rapport Madrigal and Hoerner have been building since early February. That was when, amid the lockout, they started working up the middle together at Desert Vista High School's field in south Phoenix.

"It was a lot of fun," Hoerner said. "It's getting to know the stuff the other guy likes. It's getting to know him better as a teammate. Because we have spent time together, but it's mainly been across the field."

As it turns out, Hoerner and Madrigal have spent most of their baseball lives in close proximity to one another in Northern California.

They were born two months apart. Hoerner grew up in Oakland, while Madrigal was in Sacramento. Their high schools (Elk Grove for Madrigal and Head-Royce for Hoerner) were about a 90-minute drive apart. They crossed paths with Team USA and in youth tournaments.

"We go way back," Madrigal said. "It seems like almost every weekend growing up, I would see him either on the other side of the field or on the same team. He was one of the biggest kids out there. He threw the hardest, hit the farthest balls."

They kept squaring off during their collegiate days in the Pac-12, Hoerner at Stanford and Madrigal at Oregon State, until both wound up in Chicago as first-round Draft picks in 2018. Madrigal was selected fourth overall by the White Sox and Hoerner was grabbed at No. 24 by the Cubs.

The Cubs brought the pair back together at last year's Trade Deadline, when they sent closer Craig Kimbrel to the South Siders in exchange for reliever Codi Heuer and Madrigal. Now, only second base separates Hoerner and Madrigal on the infield dirt.

"It is pretty cool where it's taken us," Madrigal said. "I don't think I ever would've guessed we'd be on the same Major League team together. It's pretty special."

The task at hand is to use that long history together as a way to build a bond up the middle for the Cubs. Hoerner said a lot of that process just comes from repetition. He mentioned how working with Javier Báez and Anthony Rizzo in the past helped his own learning curve in that regard.

"There's the small details, like where a guy likes their feeds on double plays, and things like that," Hoerner said. "But a lot of it's kind of without saying anything, too. Just moving around, getting to know each other's rhythm, just watching things they do really well."

Going into the season, Hoerner and Madrigal project as the starting duo up the middle, especially as veteran shortstop Andrelton Simmons works through some late-spring shoulder soreness. Simmons -- one of the game's elite defensive shortstops -- was brought into the fold to help the Cubs balance playing time and defensive strategy.

Last season, a myriad of injury setbacks limited Hoerner to 44 games, in which he hit .302/.382/.369 for the Cubs. Madrigal is coming back from surgery on his right hamstring, which ended his season in June. Before that issue, he hit .305/.349/.425 in 54 games for the White Sox.

Ross has explained that Simmons' presence will help pick spots to give days off to Hoerner and Madrigal. The versatile Jonathan Villar is also in the fold as an option around the infield. Hoerner, when he is not at short, is also an elite defender at second.

Ross also noted that the Cubs may do some things on defensive shifts to capitalize on Hoerner's range on the second base side of the field.

"We have a ton of depth," Hoerner said. "That's going to be an interesting puzzle for Rossy to figure out. I really think we have the right personalities to make that kind of thing work."

And when it comes to Hoerner and Madrigal, specifically, they have the kind of history that may help expedite the process of forming a reliable, defensively sound duo up the middle.

"They've looked good. They look really good," Ross said. "They work well together. I know the offseason, in their downtime, they worked a lot together. They seem to communicate really well."