Former Smokies Becoming Potential All-Stars
June 20, 2025 - Southern League (SL)
Knoxville Smokies News Release
Nico Hoerner with the Tennessee Smokies
(, Credit: Danny Parker - MiLB.com)
While signing and trading for big names to make powerhouse teams like the Los Angeles Dodgers and the New York Yankees have done for a long time is fun and exciting every year, die hard hometown fans also love to appreciate homegrown talent. Some of the faces of a franchise come from former minor league prospects who worked their way through the system and became great players on their lifelong team. Players like Ronald Acuña Jr., Elly De La Cruz, and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. are among the first that come to mind.
In the past, those players on the Chicago Cubs were Kris Bryant and Javier Baez to name a couple. Now there is room for new players to step up and become the face of the Cubs. One of those guys may be Nico Hoerner.
Nico Hoerner's Model of Consistency
Nico Hoerner is quietly having a stellar year at second base for the Cubs. Overshadowed by the stardom of players like Pete Crow-Armstrong, Kyle Tucker, and Seiya Suzuki this year, Hoerner is making an All-Star case himself.
Hoerner is slashing .288/.331/.360 for the season. While the OPS may not seem very exciting at first, it is important to note that his OPS of .691 ranks fourth among qualified NL second basemen. In addition, Hoerner is second in batting average, hits (77), and doubles (17), fourth in OBP, and has the least amount of strikeouts (21) among qualified second basemen across Major League Baseball. With these stats, Hoerner currently ranks third in All-Star voting among NL second basemen with 354,745 votes.
This is great for the homegrown kid, Nico Hoerner, whom the Cubs drafted 24th overall in the 2018 draft. However, Hoerner has been doing this essentially since he was called up at the end of the 2019 season.
Since his debut, Hoerner has had an OPS under .700 just twice in his career, in 2020 (.571) and this year. Hoerner has also only had one season in which he hit below .270, which was once again the 2020 season where he hit .222; his lowest season batting average is .273 otherwise.
While Hoerner may not be the flashiest player on the Cubs roster, he most certainly plays his role extremely well, and as a 28-year-old playing in his sixth full season, the potential 2025 All-Star could soon become one of the faces of the Cubs' franchise.
Daniel Palencia Earns the Closer Role
Daniel Palencia, who was called up from Triple-A by the Cubs in mid-April, has been completely dominant out of the bullpen for the Cubs this season. Since his debut on April 15 of this year, where he threw a perfect inning in relief to help the Cubs win an extra innings thriller against the then raging hot San Diego Padres, Palencia has allowed just five earned runs in 27 innings.
Palencia has had some stints with the Cubs before this season, but none have looked as impressive as this season. In 2023, Palencia went 5-3 with a 4.45 ERA over 28.1 innings, also blowing a save in his only opportunity. In 2024, he went 0-1 with a 6.14 ERA in 14.2 innings, while earning his first career save in his only opportunity. This year, Palencia has looked entirely different, going 0-2 with a 1.67 ERA over 27 innings, going seven for eight in save opportunities.
Although the young reliever has yet to pitch in even a full month's worth of games in his career, recording only 25 appearances this year, Palencia has already seemed to cement himself as the closer for Craig Counsel and the Cubs. This year, Palencia leads the team in saves (7) and save opportunities (8), ahead of veteran closer Ryan Pressly. Pressly currently owns a 3.54 ERA and is five for five on save opportunities.
The 25-year-old flamethrower has taken some serious steps forward in the last few years and has seemed to earn the closer role for the Cubs. The former Smokies starter has found his calling on the Cubs' major league roster and will look to help lead the Cubs to their first playoff run since 2017.
Be on the lookout for more updates on your favorite former Smokies, both in the majors and in Triple-A, as they look to aid the first place Cubs in any way they can. New updates will be out every Thursday/Friday at www.milb.com/knoxville/news.
Images from this story
 Nico Hoerner with the Tennessee Smokies (Danny Parker - MiLB.com) |
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- Former Smokies Becoming Potential All-Stars - Knoxville Smokies
The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.
