How Cubs' Nico Hoerner is adding power to his game on offense

MESA, Ariz. – Cubs second baseman Nico Hoerner played 150 games last season for the first time in his career.

“A big part of last year, and just in every year, was being on the field a lot,” Hoerner said last week. “Obviously, that's going to be at the heart of all of our success. So just proud of how much baseball I was able to play last year, and able to maintain energy and health throughout the entire season. So, never going to take that for granted. So keep prioritizing that.”

The next step for him is adding power to his offense, without sacrificing his contact ability.

“We know that Nico could go out there and probably hit .280 in his sleep,” hitting coach Dustin Kelly said. “He can do that. He just has such good bat-to-ball skills, he doesn't strike out.”

Indeed, Hoerner has hit better than .280 in every season but the pandemic-shortened 2020 season.

To unlock some more power, Hoerner has made some minor adjustments in his lower half, the biggest source of power in a player’s swing. And he’s done some bat speed training, with the goal of opening up his body a little and, as Kelly put it, to “give him a little more room for error out in front.”

“There's power in there," Kelly said. “If you watch Nico take [batting practice,] there's plenty of power in there. It's just him getting a little bit more comfortable and taking some chances. And the game situation will dictate that. He's not going to walk out here and try and hit 40 homers. That's not what we're asking him. But there is power in there that he'll be able to get to probably a little bit more this year.”

Lefty bats

Manager Craig Counsell and declined to talk specifically about players who still have to undergo physicals to make their signings official. But sources confirmed the Cubs are bringing in veteran left-handed hitters David Peralta and Dominic Smith to major-league camp on minor-league deals.

“We're still at the stage of the offseason where there's players out there, and so Jed [Hoyer] and Carter [Hawkins] are doing their best to provide some options here during spring training and some bats, really,” Counsell said. “So that's not going to stop, and we'll continue doing that.”

Peralta and Smith both underwent surgeries this offseason. Peralta’s procedure repaired the flexor tendon in his left arm. Smith’s was for a hamate fracture in his hand. As long as their physicals don’t turn up any surprises, they are expected in camp in the coming days.

“You look at our team right now, we’re pretty right-handed,” general manager Carter Hawkins said. “And that’s fine if all those righties can hit right-handers. But typically left-handers can hit right-handers a little bit more effectively. And to bring in, potentially, some left-handed bats that can help fortify our depth a little bit and help our team win, that's something we'll do every day of the week.”

Sights and sounds

Going into full squad workouts, Nick Madrigal was expecting a lot of conversations with Christopher Morel about third base. The fundamentals of the position are fresh in Madrigal’s mind after changing positions last season. And Morel, who has moved around the field the last couple days, is focusing on third to begin camp.

Sure enough, on Tuesday they were the two manning the position during infield practice. They could be seen talking about footwork on throws to second base.