A contact-first approach has sparked the worst slump of Nico Hoerner’s career, as a forced shift toward pulling the ball has derailed the second baseman’s once-elite offensive production.
Chicago Cubs second baseman Nico Hoerner has not looked like his usual self at the plate.
Hoerner was the Cubs’ most consistent hitter in 2025. He batted .297 with seven home runs, 29 doubles, four triples, 61 RBI, and 29 stolen bases across 156 games and was the engine of the offense with a career-high 178 hits.
But this season, Hoerner has been a completely different hitter.
The 29-year-old is batting just .238 with four home runs, 16 doubles, 34 RBI, and 12 stolen bases across 74 games. That subpar batting average is unlike Hoerner, considering he thrives on contact and putting the ball in play.
To make matters worse, he has been extremely unproductive at the plate for most of the last seven weeks. Hoerner is hitting a mere .198 with seven doubles, eight RBI, and five stolen bases in his last 42 games since May 1.
The crazy thing about Hoerner's poor numbers this season is that his 2026 metrics look almost identical to his 2025 metrics. His expected batting average (.290), squared-up rate (36.3%), and xwOBA (.327) rank right around where they did last year.
The problem is he’s just not getting on base like he usually does. Hoerner didn’t have a batting average this low at any point last year. That has made fans question what’s happening with the Cubs second baseman.
Well, Cubs radio color analyst Ron Coomer might have just let us in on why Hoerner might be struggling at the plate. Coomer said on 104.3 The Score that the team has tried to get Hoerner to pull the ball a little more.
Hoerner has been notorious for hitting the ball the opposite way and doing most of his damage that way. He had a 29.7% opposite field hit rate and a 8.6% opposite field groundball rate from 2021 to 2025.
However, both of those numbers are way down this season. Hoerner's opposite field hit rate has dropped to 25%, and his opposite field groundball rate has dropped to 5.9%. That has resulted in more batted balls to the left side and up the middle.
While it might seem like only a few percentage points, this is a noticeable difference for Hoerner. His career opposite field hit rate sits at 28.1%, and his career opposite field groundball rate sits at 8.2%
The Cubs obviously tried to make an adjustment with Hoerner, and it just hasn’t worked out. He is now in the midst of the worst slump of his career. His -0.4 WAR since May 1 is the fifth-worst in baseball.
Hopefully, Hoerner can eventually break out of this cold stretch and get back to his usual elite hitting status. The North Siders are definitely missing his contact skills at the top of the lineup right now.
The Cubs should let Hoerner be Hoerner, and if that means being a slap hitter, so be it.
