When Dansby Swanson went down with a strained oblique, it was on Nico Hoerner to man shortstop and keep the Cubs’ best-in-baseball defense churning without one of its most exceptional contributors.
But hey, remember that Hoerner is a two-time Gold Glover, too.
He’s won those awards as the Cubs’ everyday second baseman while Swanson has collected the same hardware as the shortstop. But Hoerner’s no stranger to the position, having played it coming up through the minor leagues and even during an entire big league season the year before the Cubs signed Swanson.
If that experience wasn’t recent enough for you, though, then you’ll just have to check the video.
Hoerner is one of those defensive dudes, no matter where he’s playing, and he made one of the highlights of the year with a jaw-dropping catch Wednesday.
Nico Hoerner WHAT A CATCH
pic.twitter.com/UnEYJCWDXd
— MLB (@MLB) September 3, 2026
“Does it surprise anybody?” Swanson said Friday. “Of course he’s going to make [the catch].
“He’s so good at whatever he does, really. I’ve had zero doubts that this would be any different.”
That’s the theme of the Cubs’ responses when they’ve been asked about Hoerner’s temporary move to shortstop.
That it’s a talking point at all is a testament to the sort of difference-maker Swanson has been. Former Padres manager Mike Schildt said Swanson “almost single-handedly beat us with his glove” in last year’s wild-card series.
But while the Cubs are at their best defensively with Swanson, Hoerner has seemingly created little dropoff.
They haven’t slowed down as, far and away, the best defensive team in baseball, starting Friday as the sport’s leaders in Defensive Runs Saved (105; next best is 75), Outs Above Average (63; next best is 38) and Fielding Run Value (64; next best is 33.3).
“It doesn’t really feel like much is really different,” center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong said Thursday. “No shade to Dansby. Nico’s showing everybody that he can be a big league shortstop at the everyday clip, as well. Nico’s been nails.”
“If there’s another guy in this league I want playing shortstop, it’s Nico Hoerner, so there’s not much to complain about with that,” first baseman Michael Busch said late last month. “Dansby, out there, has shown what he’s capable of, taking over a game. To be honest, I don’t think we’re missing much.”
They’re not missing nothing, of course, and Swanson’s value goes beyond what he does in the field.
Not only is he among the roster’s more powerful bats – he’s been out since mid August and still ranks fifth on the team with 18 homers – but he’s been described as someone who makes those unquantifiable contributions to a championship-caliber group.
“One thing that Dansby does, in the clubhouse and in the locker room, his presence carries weight,” Busch said during a road trip on which Swanson stayed back to work in Chicago. “He’s one of the best teammates I’ve ever been around, thinking about himself, thinking about others, thinking about the game, thinking about how to win. He thinks about all those things at a different level from a lot of guys.
“The locker-room presence is one thing you kind of miss with him [not here].”
This team isn’t just good at defense, it’s built around it, and the double-play combo of Swanson and Hoerner – which has logged so much time together since Swanson arrived in 2023 – is as good as it gets.
“When you play with someone long enough, there almost becomes this unsaid communication,” Swanson said. “Me and Nico don’t even have to really say it, we just kind of look at each and just give him a signal and we know.”
There’s been an understandable learning curve with Hoerner and rookie Pedro Ramirez, who’s taken over everyday second-base duties and has been praised all year for being mature beyond his years.
But again, the defense hasn’t stopped humming.
The Cubs can thank Hoerner, who has made the loss of the starting shortstop in the middle of a playoff race not as big a deal as it could have been.
“Nic’s really good over there,” left fielder Ian Happ said late last month. “We have all the confidence in the world that Nico can play shortstop.
“We’re pretty lucky, as a team, to have that as the backup option.”