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Cubs shortstop Nico Hoerner sprained his right ankle Wednesday afternoon in San Diego in one of the weirdest ways possible, colliding with umpire Dan Iassogna [VIDEO].
Nico hasn’t played since then and now he’s headed to the injured list. The IL placement is retroactive to Thursday, May 12, so he’ll be eligible to return a week from today.
Here’s Hoerner (along with Nick Madrigal) doing some drills in the outfield at Chase Field prior to Sunday’s game:
Hoerner and Madrigal going through some drills pregame. Ross noted that Andrelton Simmons is here, adding that it’ll be a “game-time decision” about Hoerner (right ankle) potentially being placed on IL. pic.twitter.com/o8SDx2fKPO
— Jordan Bastian (@MLBastian) May 15, 2022
Andrelton Simmons has an excellent reputation as a defender. Unfortunately, his hitting, never great, cratered last year to a .558 OPS in 451 plate appearances, which is pretty bad. He had a shoulder issue that delayed Spring Training and a start to the season for him. In six games at Triple-A Iowa in a rehab assignment, Simmons went 2-for-24 (.083) with two walks. A reminder that rehab assignment results aren’t as important as the process, and the importance of Simmons on this roster is to shore up the defense. I’m guessing he’ll be in today’s game at some point at shortstop.
Nico Hoerner has seemed susceptible to these sorts of leg injuries (he missed a lot of time after a hamstring injury last year), so let’s hope for a speedy recovery and good health for him the rest of the 2022 season.