PHILADELPHIA – Second baseman Nico Hoerner returned to the top of the Cubs batting order Friday, reinstated from the 10-day IL in a flurry of roster moves.
Hoerner was slashing .303/.348/.395, batting leadoff before straining his hamstring on the base paths. The Cubs delayed putting him on the injured list with the hope that it wouldn’t be necessary. But after three days, the most teams can backdate an IL move, they decided to play it safe.
Hoerner managed to make an impact even from the sidelines. After rookie Matt Mervis hit a clutch double in the Cubs’ 6-2 win against the Twins last week, he credited a conversation with Hoerner earlier in the game.
The at-bat before, Mervis had grounded out on a first-pitch fastball up in the zone.
“Right pitch to swing at, I just didn’t put a good swing on it,” Mervis said after the game. “And he just said, ‘If you’re swinging the right pitches and you’re seeing the ball well, you feel good, then stay aggressive.”
Mervis put that advice into practice when he got a high changeup with a runner on first in the seventh inning. He drove it to the center field wall to tie up the game.
“He’s a great teammate,” Mervis said of Hoerner. “He’s always helping in whatever way he can. And obviously a guy that’s had a lot of success so far this season offensively, and a guy that I look up to as a hitter. So just having him to run an idea by approach-wise is great.”
Hendricks nearing return
Cubs right-hander Kyle Hendricks (strained right shoulder) is targeting 90-plus pitches in a rehab start Saturday, which could be his last before returning from the IL.
“That’s the big one for me, just repeating those heavier workloads,” Cubs pitching coach Tommy Hottovy said. “We’ve had a bullpen that’s covered a lot of innings. So, the last thing you want to do is have a guy come up that’s not fully stretched out and going to ask a lot of our bullpen to cover behind him.”
As long as that start goes well and Hendricks recovers as expected, the next step will be deciding where to slot him in. If the Cubs keep him on a five-day rotation, he could start late next week. But that would clump together the Cubs’ three right-handers and two lefties. If they push him back to next weekend, they could slot him in between left-handers Drew Smyly and Justin Steele.