Best of the Cubs: Tom Ricketts expects to win the NL Central
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Who is Nico Hoerner and why is he a gold‑glove standout for the Cubs?
Binning six, second baseman, number two, Nico Hunter. Nico Hirner! That's so fun!
Nico Horner, how are you, man? Keep rocking it, mate. Nico Horner, gold glove award winner.
Nico, you know you're going to Chicago because how about you and Julia taking me there because it's been a tough
week for me, alright? I got you, Bruce. It's hot out. We'll sit outside by the river. It'll be a beautiful night. Nico really is the man. By the way, Nico Horner, Renales, he's
got his own pizza. It has pineapple on it. Just a note. Starting second baseman for your Chicago Cubs. Here comes the pitch to Nico.
Line down the left field line. That's gonna be a fair ball up against the wall. Racing around third as Michael Bush. He's gonna score. Nico holding with a double. Pulled on the ground right side. Oh, sprawling stop to his left by Horner from his backside. He throws the first in time to get Collins. What a play, one-OS.
Nico playing gold glove defense. That ball hit in the hole. That's he's got base hit written all over it. He lays out and by the time he's done diving, he looks at first, and he's literally sitting up and throws from the seated position.
To first base, right on the money. Here's the 1-1. A ground ball hit on the right side. Diving backhand stop Nico up on his feet. Throw the first in time to get Rojas. Another beautiful play by Nico Horner.
If you're a young coach in baseball and you want to show what defense is supposed to look like, you watch this ballgame with your team. Nico with a spectacular play and an accurate throw falling over from behind the second base back. Nico Horner.
How fun is that?
So fun. Our segment with Nico Horner is sponsored by your Chicagoland Toyota dealers. Visit your Chicagoland Toyota dealers or Toyota.com, Toyota Let's Go Places. Nico is joining us on the Score Hotline, which is brought to you by Pado Automy Casino and Hotel, the Midwest Best Casino. We appreciate the fact that he is giving people a glimpse of a cloudy, cloudy stadium right now. He is out there with his bat and we've got all sorts of questions. Nico, what's up, man? Hey
guys, how we doing? I'm behind the third base dugout in DC.
How does Nico’s defensive play illustrate the Cubs’ fielding philosophy?
A little overcast, but it's hot out, so we're that's not a bad thing. We're good.
It's a pretty good series, uh, looming. That offense is really good. That's the only offense in baseball that has scored more runs than you guys. Do you know that? First and second, you two.
I didn't I didn't know that exactly. I knew that they had had, you know, obviously, you know, Abrams and Uh James would have been incredible. Um but yeah, it's impressive from the group.
Let's talk bats since you wa 'cause the people here in our audience, by the way, say hello everyone.
They're here they're here for football and Raymond Harris later, but they get the bonus of you and they love you. They
love you because we saw saw you with the bat and so speeds were like, we could ask all sorts of bat questions. So so is isn't Bregman using or use Nico's batsby
Dansby's bat? Is that what's Alex was using Dansby's and he went away from it. I think he went back to it, right, Nico?
Yeah, he's had a little back and forth. Dan swing's a pretty big bat, um, and Bragie is on the on the smaller side. So it was a it was guys, you know, use other players' bats a decent amount here and there, but that was more of like a dramatic change in UDVC during the season. And you got a bunch of hits with it in St. Louis. I don't think it was ever a you know, this is the new me. I'm gonna use this for the rest of my life. I think it was more a moment in time. Um but fun when those things happen and it's a good feeling when another player uses your bat and gets some hits.
How much do you fiddle with bats and who's who which teammates bats have you used this season?
Uh I haven't used teammates' bats very much in my before. Um I do I've messed around some. Last year with the the whole torpedo stuff at the beginning of the year was more than I'd like to be changing stuff during the season, but I felt like it was an interesting thing to mess with. I've used a couple of different models this year, but I usually end up right back where I started.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
Who is Nico Hoerner and why is he a gold‑glove standout for the Cubs?
0:00–2:30
2
How does Nico’s defensive play illustrate the Cubs’ fielding philosophy?
2:30–5:37
3
What does Nico say about his swing mechanics and recent adjustments?
5:37–8:23
4
Why does owner Tom Ricketts believe the Cubs can win the NL Central this year?
8:23–15:29
5
How did the July trade‑deadline moves change the Cubs’ roster depth?
15:29–21:31
6
What is the significance of the bench depth and player versatility for Chicago?
21:31–26:54
7
How are the Cubs positioning themselves for a playoff run and a World Series run?
26:54–28:35
8
What final takeaways do the hosts and Nico share about the season ahead?
28:35–28:44
Speakers
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