Nico Hoerner’s sudden power surge just the latest addition to an impressive skill set

Sometimes you just have to love how random baseball can get.

Take Nico Hoerner for example. Through his first 74 games, the Chicago Cubs' second baseman was one of only two qualified hitters in Major League Baseball to not hit a home run on the season, the other being Xavier Edwards of the Miami Marlins.

However, in true baseball fashion, Hoerner has hit three home runs in his last five games entering Sunday, an out of character moment for one of the sport’s last pure contact hitters of this generation.

Nico Hoerner’s unexpected power numbers this week provided a sudden boost to a surging Cubs offense

It is worth noting that two of his home runs came in Houston, with the Astros playing in a ballpark that is notoriously friendly to right-handed hitters. Still, Hoerner’s power boost has been a welcome addition to the Cubs’ offense, something he admitted to keeping an eye on after yesterday’s dominant 12-3 win over the Astros.

“I’m obviously aware of how I’m producing,” Hoerner said. “I’m aware of the things I do well and I don’t want to lose sight of those things that I’ve always done well. I want to be a really impactful player in this league and help us win games and it’s hard to be a really good player in this league without hitting for power. You can’t force it but there’s daily work that gives me a better chance to do it.”

 As fun as this last week has been, Hoerner is not a power hitter and he knows it. Across a seven-year career in Major League Baseball, Hoerner has hit double digit home runs on the season only once, making it right on the number in 2022. At the surface, it’s not impressive, but taking a deeper look reveals a diamond in the rough.

Hoerner is second amongst qualified hitters with just a 6.8 strikeout percentage. Pair that with just a 10.5 percent whiff rate and a 37.6 percent rate of squaring up the ball, and Hoerner is one of the sport’s best hitters when it comes to putting the ball in play.

These are the things Hoerner does not want to lose sight of in a quest for power, and he is absolutely right to do so. While having virtually no power to his game, Hoerner still leads the Cubs with a .294 batting average along with an absurd .397 average with 31 RBI with runners in scoring position. Pair that with perenial Gold Glove defense and you have yourself a ballplayer.

Despite representing a dying breed of contact hitters in MLB, Hoerner is a player the Cubs are lucky to have on their team, as a player of his caliber is tough to find elsewhere.