It’s a start! Nico Hoerner is taking some grounders out in Arizona, even if maybe not yet making full throws.
Rich Biesterfeld got a clip:
Nico is taking ground balls! Let the speculation beginโฆ
— The Setup Man – Chicago Cubs YT Channel (@setupmanpod) January 23, 2025
Credit: @biest22 #setupmanmovement pic.twitter.com/92WjS8ZoEz
Hoerner, 27, dealt with a forearm issue for most of the 2024 season, and had the flexor tendon surgically repaired shortly after the season ended. The timeline for recovery on that surgery was always pretty hard to project for a second baseman, both because the nature of the job is different from some other positions, and also because this is historically not a super common injury for an infielder.
Our last update from the man, himself, came over the weekend at Cubs Convention:
There were no indications that anything with the rehab has gone awry, and everyone involved wants to make sure Hoerner comes back at full strength without any setbacks. So I’m sure there’s a whole lot of caution here, especially given that the regular season is still more than two months away.
No promises were made at the Convention about Opening Day for Hoerner, who thoughtfully remarked that he didn’t want to put any firm expectations on the timeline. You have to follow your body’s recovery.
โWhen you get the surgery, itโs hard not to from Day 1 start projecting out,โ Hoerner said, per Marquee. โI think Iโd do myself and the team a bit of a disservice if I rush this process in any way. I think it is kind of in my nature to push towards that direction. But โฆ effort doesnโt really heal your tendons. Obviously, thereโs stuff within that, but patience is a huge part of it too.
โAll that to be said, just working backwards from Opening Day, you take playing as many games in the season as possible into consideration. Itโs obviously a huge source of motivation โ both for myself and for the team โ making sure that Iโm in a place not only just to get back to being able to play, but actually being able to be myself. Weโll go from there. I donโt have an exact answer on that yet.โ
To me, it would be pretty reasonable if availability for the opener in Japan – March 18 – were sacrificed in order that Hoerner would get an additional 10 days to be ready for the March 27 opener in the States. Of course you want him on the field for every game of the season, but if mentally crossing those two games off right now allows for a more careful and complete rehab and ramp up? It’d be worth it.
That said, who knows? Hoerner is back on the field doing some drills now, and we know that the ramp up part of Spring Training for position players doesn’t actually take all that long. No one has ruled out the Tokyo Series for Hoerner yet, so we’ll just keep following along on any updates we get. Can’t wait until we see him making throws and/or taking swings.