Get ready for Nico Hoemers?
Guess who is in the best shape of his life?
Now that the final NFL season of the decade is over that will end without a Bears' Super Bowl victory, we can get back to our obsessive focus on the Cubs. They open camp on Wednesday, though some of the Johnny Try Hards have been down there for a while.
Most notably, free agent to be Nico Hoerner, who caught the attention of one ASU journalism major who seems to be fairly aroused by what he's seen from a more taut Nico.
Nico Hoerner just hit three consecutive moonshots off the machine.
— Wyatt Baumeyer (@wyattB2024) February 6, 2026
He physically looks bigger this year.
Expect a power surge from him this year.
An absolute moonshot off Nico Hoerner’s bat.
— Wyatt Baumeyer (@wyattB2024) February 6, 2026
I’ve never seen Nico hit with this much power #cubs pic.twitter.com/CCZ1sX0P01
My favorite part of Spring Training is that every player is, "in the best shape of his life."
Nico is a very good player. Hell, he was a six WAR player last year, but if we ever see a power surge from him, it's not going to be because he got really into the P90X reboot over an offseason. (How can you bring that thing back without Tony Horton? You know what? Never mind.) Because Nico's lack of power is not a function of him not doing enough pull-ups (No kipping!).
The two factors that have combined to keep Nico's career slugging well below .400 for his career (.384 in 704 games), are bat speed (68.5 MPH in 2025 which put him in the eighth percentile) and a low launch angle of 10.3 which is nearly 20 percent below league average. He doesn't hit the ball in the air and he doesn't generate much power--his average exit velocity for his career is well below league average, and in the last two years he's been in the ninth percentile or worse.
None of this makes Nico a bad hitter.
