Chicago, IL (AP) – Nico Hoerner and the Chicago Cubs finalized their $141 million, six-year contract Sunday that establishes the Gold Glove second baseman as a franchise cornerstone going forward.
The team announced the move before its 6-3 loss to the Washington Nationals at Wrigley Field. Hoerner could have become a free agent after this season, but instead chose to stay with the club that drafted him.
“It means the world,” said Hoerner, joined by his fiancée and family at a postgame news conference. “There’d be nothing more satisfying than winning a championship in the place you started.”
The contract runs from 2027-32 and includes deferred money.
Hoerner’s long-term deal comes days after All-Star center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong agreed to a $115 million, six-year contract. The Cubs announced Crow-Armstrong’s deal after Thursday’s 10-4 loss to the Nationals on opening day.
The 28-year-old Hoerner was selected by the Cubs in the first round of the 2018 amateur draft out of Stanford. He is starting his last season under a $35 million, three-year contract that was finalized in March 2023.
“Our kind of player. Plays like a Cub; needs to be a Cub,” president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer said, recalling the team’s early scouting reports on Hoerner. “He’s so unbelievably consistent.
“Super-easy decision for us and we couldn’t be happier he’s going to be with us for a long time.”
Hoerner was a key performer last year as Chicago won 92 games and reached the playoffs for the first time since 2020. He batted .297 with seven homers, 61 RBIs and 29 steals in a career-best 156 games. Hoerner also won his second Gold Glove.
He hit .419 (13 for 31) in the playoffs with a .424 on-base percentage and a .973 OPS.
“It’s a good group and I think we’re capable of so much more,” Hoerner said.
Hoerner made his major league debut in September 2019, hitting .282 with three homers and 17 RBIs in 20 games down the stretch. He had a breakout performance in 2022, when he batted .281 with 10 homers, 55 RBIs and 20 steals in 135 games.
Hoerner, who won his first Gold Glove in 2023, is a .282 hitter with 36 homers, 279 RBIs and 132 steals in 706 career games.
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This story has been corrected to show the final score of Sunday’s game was 6-3.
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