Nico

Hoerner

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.

Matt Shaw takes over at second base with Hoerner on the bench for some additional rest after making an early departure from Friday’s series opener at Wrigley Field with neck tightness. The 28-year-old second baseman has been a revelation, hitting .297/.374/.461 with four homers, 26 RBI and seven steals through 32 games, as an increase in over-the-fence power has pushed him into true superstar territory this season. There should be a clearer picture regarding his status at some point this weekend, but fantasy managers should consider him day-to-day for now.

Matt Shaw pinch-hit and took over at second base. This doesn’t sound especially serious at this point, but we’re sure we’ll get a real update at some point in the next 24 hours. Hoerner had already gotten a hit and scored a run, and was hitting .291/.370/.449 with four homers and seven stolen bases entering the game — he’s been one of the MVPs for fantasy baseball up to this point.

Who is this power hitter? Hoerner now has four home runs in 23 games this season after hitting just seven across 156 games last season. He’s also over a third of the way to last year’s RBI total with 22 in nearly four weeks of play. There’s nothing super discernible in his profile that says this power surge will continue, so enjoy it while it lasts for one of the game’s best second basemen.

He drilled a no-doubt 392-foot homer to left field off Kodai Senga to extend Chicago’s lead early in the game. Hitting .342/.420/.553 with six steals and three homers, Hoerner is one of the most valuable players in fantasy baseball to this point. The power surge probably won’t last -- his career high is 10 -- but this has been an incredible start for Chicago’s stalwart second baseman.

It may be a serious understatement to say Hoerner is on fire at the dish, with five multi-hit performances in his last eight games since April 7. The 28-year-old second baseman took Phillies starter Jesús Luzardo deep into the left-center field seats for his first round-tripper of the season in the fifth inning to give the Cubs a commanding 5-1 lead at the time. He also added two more hits and a stolen base, just for good measure, raising his batting average to .324 through 18 games this season.