Cubs’ Nico Hoerner reworking his approach to unlock more power
Throughout seven seasons, Nico Hoerner has given the Chicago Cubs steady contact, speed on the bases, and Gold Glove–caliber defense. The one area where his offensive profile has room to grow is power. He owns a career .384 slugging percentage and has topped the .400 mark in just one full season.
That said, Hoerner recently opened up about his plan to generate more power in 2026. According to Maddie Lee of the Chicago Sun-Times, Hoerner isn’t overhauling his mechanics, nor did he bulk up dramatically during the off-season instead, he’s leaning on analytics and smarter swing choices to unlock extra pop.
Chicago Cubs’ Nico Hoerner is reworking his approach to unlock more power
Talking to the Chicago Sun-Times, Hoerner explained why simply taking bigger swings hasn’t worked for him. Instead, his focus is on smarter pitch selection. “A lot of it is what you swing at pitch-wise. So having a better understanding of not just what I make contact with, but what I drive. And if you can put more balls in play in that bucket throughout the season, then I like my chances to slug more, whether it’s home runs or extra-base hits in general.”
Diving deeper into Hoerner’s comments, he is saying that he first needs to understand what the analytics say in terms of what pitches he drives hardest and does the most damage with. Then, he needs to consistently attack those pitches over the course of a full season. By taking this approach across a large sample of at-bats, he expects his power numbers to rise.
So what type of pitches does Hoerner do the most damage against?
According to Baseball Savant, Hoerner generates his most power against offspeed pitches. Last year, he slugged .473 in those at-bats, and the year before, .490. Of the offspeed pitches, Hoerner has mashed changeups the past two years, slugging .509 in 2025 and .467 in 2024. By comparison, over the past two years breaking balls produced only .311–.346 slugging percentage, while fastballs were slightly better, ranging from .383 to .404.
This makes offspeed pitches the clear target for Hoerner’s approach. By identifying these offerings early in the count and attacking them consistently, he can maximize his chances of driving the ball for extra bases and boosting his overall slugging. Essentially, dialing in on the pitch that plays to his strengths gives him a concrete path to more power throughout the season.
The post Cubs’ Nico Hoerner reworking his approach to unlock more power appeared first on ChiCitySports.
Source: https://www.chicitysports.com/cubs-nico-hoerner-reworking-his-approach-to-unlock-more-power/
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