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Nico Hoerner can definitely help your team's AVG

Chris Crawford lays out why fantasy managers should consider adding Chicago Cubs infielder Nico Hoerner for boosts in the batting average and speed.

Video Transcript

CHRIS CRAWFORD: The Cubs have almost no chance of making the postseason. But there have been some positive developments for them in 2022, and one of them has been the strong play of Nico Hoerner. Coming into the holiday, the infielder was slashing 309, 346, 422. But things have gotten even better for the former first-round pick as of late.

Over the last two weeks, Hoerner is slashing 431, 483, 529 over 14 games with a homer and a pair of doubles. He's also drawn five walks in that time frame, which is nice to see for a hitter who ranks in the bottom 5th percentile in base on ball percentage. He also doesn't barrel the baseball much, and his contact-oriented swing means that he's never going to be an elite power hitter, assuming there's not a significant swing change, anyway.

Those are the negatives, but the positives are a hitter who ranks in the 96th percentile in expected batting average, in large part because he's one of the most difficult hitters in the sport to strikeout. He's also one of the fastest players in baseball according to sprint speed, so another five to 10 stolen bases are to be expected. He's not a perfect player, but it'd be hard to name many more who have a chance to help in the average in the second half of the season than Nico Hoerner.