Nico Hoerner says he pretty much has not taken a ground ball at second base since All-Star shortstop Dansby Swanson went down with a left heel contusion on July 5. The extra pregame defensive work he’s been putting in to handle starting at shortstop every game since Swanson went on the injured list, is at least context to his efforts to shake off a slow month offensively.

“I’ve definitely been late a lot in general recently,” said Hoerner, amid struggles that have seen him hit .176/.256/.257 in July with an elevated strikeout rate.

In that vein, Cubs manager David Ross took extra encouragement from Hoerner’s late-inning grand slam Wednesday night. A late-inning grand slam is always reason for optimism, but Ross especially praised the sight of seeing Hoerner getting the barrel out in front and pulling an early count fastball; breaking from a pattern of more defensive swings fouling off heaters to the first base side.

But the breakout 2022 season that established Hoerner as a piece of the Cubs core was built upon line drives all over the yard. And the Cubs infielder doesn’t see growing pull-conscious as the path out of a funk.

With his timing off, Hoerner feels examining his plate discipline and swing choices come first, before diving into mechanics. Hoerner is hitless but has drawn three walks in two games since his big blast, which he’ll take as a small indicator of progress right now.

“I’ve had some pretty strong takes in general and a little bit better quality of contact,” said Hoerner. “For me, the best results come from keeping really simple thoughts of flush contact on pitches down the middle and a natural spray comes from pitch location and speed. When I’m at my best, there’s a lot of line drives to different parts of the field.”

Fulmer to start

After listing their Saturday and Sunday starters as to be announced all this week, the Cubs informed that reliever Michael Fulmer will start Saturday’s game against the Cardinals.

While he was a rookie of the year winner out of the Tigers rotation in 2016, Fulmer converted to full-time relief in 2021 and having the 30-year-old right-hander start on Saturday reads as a likely opener strategy. Since Fulmer threw 15 pitches in Friday’s game, it might not even be a multi-inning assignment.

Normally, Saturday would have been the rotation slot for lefty Drew Smyly. The Cardinals typically have powerful right-handed batters in Paul Goldschmidt, Nolan Arenado and Willson Contreras at the top of their order, and righties have fared almost 100 points better than lefties by OPS against the 34-year-old Smyly over the course of his career.

Swanson update

Though half of the opportunities have now passed, Ross said there’s still hope that Swanson could be activated from the IL during this series against the Cardinals. While he’s mostly ready to return to action, Ross said on Friday morning that Swanson’s running is still around “75 percent.”

The prospect of Swanson having to test his heel out in a high-intensity game situation still provides some pause.

“If he’s got to score from first, or stretch a single into a double, that type of thing,” Ross explained. “[His] baseball activity is good. It’s just the running and what the implications of game state is. Is [Swanson playing at diminished capacity] what’s best for us to win a baseball game? It doesn’t feel like that right now.”