Nico Hoerner’s production has plummeted since taking a fastball to the helmet. Is the Cubs' spark plug mired in a slump, or battling the lingering effects of injury?
Chicago Cubs second baseman Nico Hoerner has not looked like his usual self at the plate lately.
He’s batting just .250 with four home runs, 13 doubles, 32 RBI, and 10 stolen bases across 57 games this season and has had plenty of uncompetitive at-bats over the last few weeks. His batting average has also dropped 41 points since the end of April.
That begs the question of what’s going on with Hoerner.
He still has an 86th percentile expected batting average (.286), ranks in the 92nd percentile in squared up rate (34.4%), and is still doing a solid job of putting the ball in play with a 100th percentile strikeout rate (7.6%).
However, his lack of production at the plate in May is concerning. Could the Cubs second baseman be dealing with the aftereffects of a concussion that he continued to play through?
Hoerner was hit in the head by a 90 mph fastball from San Diego Padres starter Matt Waldron back on April 29. The ball ricocheted off his helmet, and he immediately jogged to first base while smiling.
Since that hit by pitch, Hoerner has been a completely different hitter.
He was slashing .293/.369/.455 with four home runs, eight doubles, 26 RBI, and seven stolen bases in 30 games before being hit in the head. Hoerner was looking like a borderline MVP candidate to start the season and was an all-around productive hitter.
However, the 29-year-old is slashing only .198/.293/.248 with five doubles, six RBI, and three stolen bases in 26 games since that hit by pitch. His numbers across the board are massively down in May, and he’s not hitting the ball well at all.
We have seen players like Anthony Rizzo pass all concussion protocols in the past and still deal with some head injury effects. Back in 2023, Rizzo sustained a neck/head injury during a collision with Padres outfielder Fernando Tatis Jr.
He passed all concussion tests following that collision incident and continued to play every day. After hitting .304 with 11 home runs in 53 games before that injury, Rizzo went on to hit .169 with zero home runs and five RBI over his next 23 games.
Rizzo was then placed on the IL almost three months later due to post-concussion symptoms.
While that might not be happening here with Hoerner, it is interesting to see how much his numbers have dropped since being hit in the head last month.
Now, this might just be a rough slump at the plate for Hoerner. Hitters go through offensive slumps all the time, and the Cubs second baseman has gone through his fair share of slumps throughout his career.
Either way, the Cubs will need Hoerner to pick it up offensively moving forward. When he goes, the rest of the offense goes. When he struggles, those struggles are felt.
