It's official: Cubs sign Nico Hoerner to contract extension
Kamil Krzaczynski - USA Today Sports

It's official: Cubs sign Nico Hoerner to contract extension


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CHICAGO – The Chicago Cubs and infielder Nico Hoerner have agreed to terms on a three-year contract extension covering the 2024-26 seasons. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Hoerner, 25, has batted .277 (226-for-816) with 37 doubles, six triples, 13 home runs and 101 RBI in 247 career major league games since making his debut in 2019 for Chicago at the age of 22. He was a N.L. Gold Glove Award finalist at second base in 2020 and in 2022 finished second in the N.L. in defensive runs saved (11) among shortstops, while becoming just the fourth Cubs full-time shortstop to reach 10 home runs and 20 stolen bases in a season.

The right-handed hitting Hoerner last season appeared in a career-high 135 games with a .281 average (135-for-481) while setting career marks in hits (135), doubles (22), triples (5), home runs (10), RBI (55), runs (60) and stolen bases (20). He led the Cubs in batting average and stolen bases, was second in hits and tied for third in RBI.

Hoerner made the jump from Double-A to his major league debut with Chicago September 9, 2019, in San Diego, going 3-for-5 with a triple, two runs scored and four RBI in a 10-2 Cubs win. He became the first Cub with at least three hits and four RBI in his major league debut since Dee Fondy on April 17, 1951 vs. Cincinnati. Hoerner had another four-RBI game in his fifth-career contest, September 13 vs. Pittsburgh, to become the first Cub since 1920 to record multiple four-RBI efforts in his first five career games.

Selected by the Cubs in the first round (24th overall) of the 2018 First-Year Player Draft out of Stanford University, Hoerner was the first member of the 2018 draft class to reach the major leagues. He was only the second Cubs position player in the last 30 years to make his debut the year of or the year after he was drafted, joining 2014 first-round pick Kyle Schwarber, who made his major league debut in 2015.

A native of Oakland, Calif., Hoerner was named All-Pac-12 in 2017 and 2018 and was a finalist for the Brooks Wallace Award in 2018 (best collegiate shortstop) while at Stanford University. He graduated with a degree in American Studies during the 2019-20 offseason.

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