Report: Cubs agree to six-year extension with Hoerner

For the past few years, Cubs management, coaches and teammates have raved about second baseman Nico Hoerner.

They've praised him for his baseball acumen, for being a great teammate, and tabbed him a pleasant guy to have in the dugout.

So it's absolutely no surprise the Cubs agreed to a six-year contract extension with Hoerner. ESPN's Jesse Rogers reported the deal shortly after the season-opening 10-4 loss to Washington ended Thursday.

Hoerner will make $12 million this year, and the new deal prevents him from becoming a free agent after the season. The Cubs recently completed an extension for center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong, worth a reported $115 million over six years.

Hoerner, who turns 29 in May, was the Cubs' first-round draft pick out of Stanford in 2018. He's a two-time Gold Glove winner and is coming off a strong season in 2025, when he hit .297 with 61 RBI and the third-lowest strikeout rate in MLB at 7.6%.

Shaw debut flawless

There were a couple of bright spots in the Cubs' otherwise dismal loss to Washington on Thursday.

Matt Shaw's major-league debut in right field went very well, especially considering the wind was blowing 22 mph from the north.

“I said before the game to Flash (bench coach Ryan Flaherty), this is not the ideal day to make your debut in right field with how the weather was,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. “But he did a nice job, absolutely.”

Shaw's first chance in right field was tricky one. Washington's Dalen Lile hit a rocket line drive deep toward the well. Shaw didn't have far to run and used a small leap to make the catch.

In the fourth, after C.J. Abrams hit a would-be double into the right-field corner, Shaw retrieved the ball and threw him out at second base, which saved at least one run. Shaw added a running catch in right-center late in the game, before being removed for a pinch-hitter.

Seiya Suzuki, the Cubs projected right-field starter, is doing well in his recovery from a right knee sprain. The soonest he can return from the injured list is April 1, the last day of this opening homestand, but Counsell has said he'll wait at least until next weekend's series in Cleveland.

“I think our best lineup, our best team, has (Suzuki) in right and has Bally (Moises Ballesteros) and other guys DHing,” Jed Hoyer said before the game.

Seeing strikes

On the first day with MLB's automated ball-strike challenge system in place, the Cubs made no challenges. Washington made three and went 2-1.

The first challenge of the season was by Washington's battery in the bottom of the first inning. After a 2-0 pitch to Alex Bregman was called a ball, the Nationals challenged and it was changed to a strike.

In the sixth inning, C.J. Abrams challenged a pitch from Ben Brown, and it was changed from strike to ball. A challenged strike call in the ninth was denied.

Craig Counsell said the Cubs had three meetings during the spring to discuss both the rule and correct strategies for using a challenge. Each team gets two challenges per game, but they only go away if the original call is upheld. So the challenges are unlimited as long as a team keeps winning them.

“There are some (Cubs challenge) rules, like the first pitch of the game would be no,” Counsell said. “I think the hitters do know the egregious misses, and you want them to be aggressive on those at all times.”

The Cubs had a 60% success rate of challenging calls in spring training, for what it's worth.

“Look, there's going to be guys that get it wrong,” Counsell added. “We're going to cheer; we're going to say — 'Oh no, why didn't we challenge?' — because the ball missed by four-tenths of an inch.”