Three Cubs who can make their first All-Star team in 2024

1. Nico Hoerner

Nico Hoerner just feels like a first-time All-Star waiting to happen in 2024. The 26-year-old played significantly more in 2022 and in 2023. After playing only 112 games from 2019-2021, Hoerner played 285 games combined in the last two seasons. With more time on the diamond, Hoerner took full advantage of it in ’22 and ’23.

Hoerner’s 2023 season began on the highest of notes as the Cubs gave their middle infielder a three-year $35M extension right at the start of the season. The extension came thanks to a 2022 campaign where Hoerner hit .281 with 10 homers and 55 RBIs in the middle of the Cubs’ batting order. Those numbers scream leadoff or number two hitter and that is exactly what Chicago promoted Hoerner to last season.

Of the 150 games Hoerner played last season, he batted either leadoff or in the two hole in 149 of them. Moving Hoerner to the top of the lineup proved to be the right move as the righty hitter nearly made a carbon copy of his 2022 campaign. In 2023, Hoerner hit .283 with nine homers and drove in 68 runs.

The largest positive for bumping Hoerner to the top of the lineup? Walks. Hoerner has walked only 109 times in his entire career, but 49 of those walks came last season. As a result, a .346 OBP in 2023 increased Hoerner’s career OBP by six points from .333 to .339.

With the Cubs bringing back a very similar cast of characters this season, Hoerner has the chance to take an even bigger step forward in 2024 than he did in ’22 or ’23. Over the last two seasons, Hoerner has a slash line of .282/.338/.395.

The infielder’s 2024 slash line could very well see an increase in all three areas. A major reason why? First-year manager Craig Counsell. As a player, Counsell batted leadoff or second in 735 career games and collected 747 hits when hitting at the top of the lineup. Counsell’s 490 hits as a leadoff man are the most hits he accumulated at any position in the batting order in his career. Perhaps some of Counsell’s leadoff logic will rub off on Hoerner in 2024.

As the memories of the Cubs’ core of Kris Bryant, Javier Báez, and Anthony Rizzo grow another year older, Chicago’s new core has molded together in short order very nicely. With the reliable Bellinger back in the Windy City for another three years, the Cubs’ young core could quite possibly cook up multiple All-Star selections and a very special season in 2024.