'He earned every bit of it': How Hoerner won 1st Gold Glove

This story was excerpted from Jordan Bastian’s Cubs Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

CHICAGO -- There were all those pregame hours logged on the infield dirt with the help of Cubs bench coach Andy Green and infield coach Jonathan Mota this year. There were the long days in Spring Training, the years of drill work in the Minor Leagues, plus the groundwork laid at Stanford and as a high schooler in Oakland.

When Nico Hoerner earned his first career Gold Glove Award on Sunday night, the second baseman thought back even further.

“I especially think of my dad and just the time that he spent with me, just the endless ground balls,” Hoerner said. “A lot of great people make things like this possible. It’s cool to get recognition for it.”

Anyone who has watched Hoerner play defense should not be surprised by him taking home some hardware for his work in the field. Hoerner has certainly played Gold Glove-caliber defense in prior years, but his path to this trophy was a bit circuitous as he moved around the diamond to fit Chicago’s needs.

This past season, Hoerner found a home at second base, where he teamed with fellow Gold Glove winner Dansby Swanson to form baseball’s top defensive middle-infield duo. Hoerner moved to that spot on a full-time basis after playing a stellar shortstop in 2022, when he ranked second only to Swanson (22) in outs above average (13).

Hoerner had played second in the past -- he was even a Gold Glove finalist in 2020 -- but that does not mean the transition was simple. In previous seasons, he had to be ready for shortstop at a moment’s notice, and was even tested at third and in the outfield on occasion.

“Not everybody gets to see how hard guys work behind the scenes,” Cubs left fielder Ian Happ said. “To watch how well he played shortstop last year, and then to make the transition over as smoothly as he did. They’re similar positions, but I’ve never gotten to play shortstop in the big leagues. I have played second and I know that they’re not the same.

“He spent a ton of time this spring working on the pivot at second base, working on making that different delivery -- the backhand flip. I know how much he put into it. So, to see him be honored and the respect that goes along with that, as deserving as he was, it’s really, really cool.”

Across the 2020-23 seasons, Hoerner has 45 OAA overall, ranking sixth in baseball -- just a handful behind Swanson (51). That includes 27 OAA while in the lineup as a second baseman, another 19 at shortstop and one at third base (plus minus-two in the outfield).

After Swanson signed a seven-year, $177 million contract with the Cubs last winter, Hoerner was required to slide back to second base. Knowing first hand the work that Hoerner put in to further master the position and develop a strong rapport with Swanson, the shortstop was thrilled to see his teammate pick up his first career Gold Glove.

“He earned every bit of it,” Swanson said. “I felt like he just impacted the game in so many ways for us this year, all around, but especially defensively. And just what he was able to do, first year kind of making that full transition over to second base, he made it look so much easier than it actually is. So for him to be able to get rewarded in the way that he did is pretty cool.”