Nico Hoerner goes 2-for-4, homers versus Yankees

Hoerner grabs a seat on the bench with red-hot rookie Pedro Ramírez taking a turn at the keystone after connecting for his first round-tripper since April 21 earlier this week. The 29-year-old speedster has been phenomenal since the All-Star break, hitting .417 (20-for-48) across 11 games during that span.

Hoerner hit a two-run homer off Hunter Dobbins to essentially put the game away in the top of the ninth. It was his first homer since way back on Apr. 21, when he hit his fourth in 23 games to start the year. It now seems pretty official that he’s turned things around after a two-month slump; he’s batting .432/.432/.545 in 10 games to start the second half, raising his OPS from .631 to .666.

Hoerner remains hot, and his triple scored three and doubled the Cubs’ lead to 6-0 in the third frame. It comes a day after Hoerner singled four times with an RBI, and it’s helped improve his slash to .245/.314/.341. Hoerner has certainly gone on hot runs before, and it’s possible we’re seeing the beginning of one to start the second half of the 2026 campaign.

Surprisingly, it’s his first four-hit game since Apr. 16, 2024. Hoerner, one of the league’s coldest hitters the last couple of months, has six hits in the first two games of the second half. He was 5-for-36 previously this month.

As much of a disaster as Dansby Swanson has been offensively, Hoerner has been just as bad for about eight weeks now. In 46 games since Apr. 22, he’s hit .202/.283/.246 with 11 runs scored and 11 RBI in 205 plate appearances. He’s actually struck out only nine times during the entire stretch, but just putting the ball in play doesn’t necessarily mean good things are going to happen (sorry, baseball commentators). Statcast thinks Hoerner has been pretty unlucky, but his EV numbers are all worse than usual and defenses are taking away some of his singles because they’re just not too worried about him hitting the ball over the heads of outfielders. He’s going to have to swing with a little more authority if he wants to keep defenses honest.

Hoerner was flying high two months ago, opening the season with a .326 average, four homers and 22 RBI in his first 23 games. Since Apr. 22, however, he’s come in at .201 with no homers and 11 RBI in 41 games, even though he’s struck out just 10 times in 185 plate appearances. He’ll bounce back, but it just isn’t easy being a major league hitter these days.

Ramírez has gone 4-for-16 with one RBI in 17 plate appearances over eight games since being called up from Triple-A Iowa last month. The 22-year-old rookie gets a look at the keystone with Nico Hoerner sliding over to shortstop with Dansby Swanson getting a rare day off.

Hoerner draws his second consecutive start as Chicago’s table-setter, this time against Athletics top prospect Gage Jump, after moving back up for Sunday’s series finale against the Cardinals. The 29-year-old speedster has been stuck in a rut at the dish recently, hitting .208 (25-for-120) with zero homers and four steals over his last 30 games, Pete Crow-Armstrong is hitting second once again after mostly batting leadoff since late May.

Crow-Armstrong finds himself back atop Chicago’s lineup with manager Craig Counsell shaking things up. The 24-year-old power/speed combo fantasy threat had been scuffling at the dish this month prior to slugging a two-run homer and walking twice during Friday’s series opener at Wrigley Field. Nico Hoerner moves to the cleanup spot with Alex Bregman and Michael Bush hitting behind Crow-Armstrong. It’s a significant development that fantasy managers should monitor moving forward.

Hoerner returned to Chicago’s lineup for Sunday’s series finale against Arizona following a one-game absence due to neck tightness. The 28-year-old second baseman is back at the keystone and hitting leadoff on Monday evening at Wrigley Field.