Photo: Melissa Tamez, Icon Sportswire<\/p>\n
Cubs second baseman Nico Hoerner is currently routing the rest of the field in Defensive Runs Saved at his position. He also trails only his teammate Pete Crow-Armstrong, Rays shortstop Taylor Walls, and Dodgers shortstop Mookie Betts in Defensive Wins Above Replacement.<\/p>\n
Most Defensive Runs Saved \u2013 Second Base, 2025 Season<\/p>\n
Player
\nTeam
\nRuns Saved<\/p>\n
Nico Hoerner
\nCubs
\n19<\/p>\n
Xavier Edwards
\nMarlins
\n9<\/p>\n
Brice Turang
\nBrewers
\n9<\/p>\n
Tyler Fitzgerald
\nGiants
\n8<\/p>\n
David Hamilton
\nRed Sox
\n8<\/p>\n
When I see gaps that wide between the No. 1 and No. 2 players at a position, I like to dig into why the gap is so large.<\/p>\n
In Hoerner\u2019s case, there is a pretty easy answer.<\/p>\n
Our version of MLB\u2019s Outs Above Average is Plays Saved, a stat that has existed since the first season for which Defensive Runs Saved was first calculated, 2003 (we called it plus-minus then). It\u2019s basically the same concept as OAA \u2013 how many more plays did a player make than the average player at his position, which can be broken down directionally (left, right, and straight-on).<\/p>\n
By our measures, Hoerner has a +16 plays saved on balls hit to his right. No other infielder is better than +11 or better at making plays in any direction this season*. Hoerner has made 113 plays on 182 opportunities**. The expectation is that an average fielder would make 97 of them.<\/p>\n
* Ke\u2019Bryan Hayes is + 11 on balls hit to his right at third base.<\/p>\n
\u00a0** Opportunities = plays with a > 0% out probability.<\/p>\n
The excellence on balls hit to his right is a new development. Hoerner has played second base regularly the last two years and was +4 and +1 on those plays.<\/p>\n
The types of plays that help produce this sort of stat take on a few different forms. Here are three valuable ones for Hoerner this season.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s Hoerner staying on his feet and going across second base to reach a ball and throw out Jacob Wilson of the Athletics.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s another play of that nature. This time the Cubs defense is shifted, so it\u2019s a little easier for him to get to the ball. He still has to make a shortstop\u2019s throw to first base from where he\u2019s standing and given that he\u2019s played shortstop in past seasons, that\u2019s not an issue.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s a diving play against the very fast Elly De La Cruz. Dives are a low percentage play for Hoerner, as they are for most second basemen, but that one worked.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
If Hoerner\u2019s play looks familiar to Cubs manager Craig Counsell, it should. Defensive Runs Saved was calculated a little differently when Counsell played, as good positioning was credited to the player rather than the team.<\/p>\n
As such, Counsell has Hoerner beat. In 2005 Counsell was a +24 on balls hit to his right on the way to a season with 30 Runs Saved. From a defensive perspective, it was an all-timer of a season. Counsell still shares the single-season record for most Runs Saved by a second baseman with Chase Utley. Hoerner\u2019s season may not reach that level, but it\u2019s looking like a great one too.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Photo: Melissa Tamez, Icon Sportswire Cubs second baseman Nico Hoerner is currently routing the rest of the field…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":114953,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[363,99],"class_list":["post-114952","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114952","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=114952"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114952\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/114953"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=114952"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=114952"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=114952"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}