MESA, Ariz. — The Cubs’ defense made history on Sunday, with three players winning Gold Glove Awards to set a franchise record. Second baseman Nico Hoerner claimed his first career Gold Glove Award. Shortstop Dansby Swanson and left fielder Ian Happ took home the award in their respective position groups for the second straight season.
“Really cool anytime you can be a part of Cubs history like that,” Happ said in a Zoom news conference with the three winners. “[Being the] first to do something is pretty special. The organization has been around a long time.”
Said Hoerner: “From the beginning of the year, it was something that was pretty well covered, that as a team we were going to be really valuing run prevention. And so whether we got the awards or not, I felt that our team really did that, beyond the three of us. And so to get recognition feels great, especially with that goal in mind, but there were so many other guys that were contributing to that as well.”
Hoerner was also a Gold Glove finalist at second base in 2020. This season, he led MLB with 411 assists, according to baseball reference. He and Brewers’ Brice Turang led NL second basemen in defensive runs saved (12), per FanGraphs. Hoerner ended the season as the runner up in outs above average (14) among qualified NL second basemen.
“It’s really, really special,” he said. “I got the thrill of seeing Ian win his first last year – and didn’t know Dansby yet. It’s so much time that goes into that and people that help along the way. And I especially think of my dad and the time that he spent with me, just the endless ground balls.”
Both Swanson and Happ gushed about Hoerner’s work ethic and worthiness of winning the award.
“I was going to be really, really frustrated with the system of how it works if he didn’t,” Swanson said. “Just because he impacted the game so many ways for us this year, all around, but especially defensively.”
When Swanson signed with the Cubs last offseason, it was clear the Cubs would have one of the strongest middle infield duos in MLB. But Swanson emphasized that making their fearsome partnership a reality wasn’t as simple as pairing up two good defenders.
“The individual stuff happened, yeah; we worked our butts off to be able to be good in that regard,” he said. “But the camaraderie and the chemistry takes time, and then it’ll only continue to get better as time goes along.”
Swanson and Hoerner were the first middle infield teammates to win Gold Glove Awards in the same season since 2016, when the Giants’ Joe Panik and Brandon Crawford both claimed the honor.
“They were definitely fun to watch,” Happ said of Swanson and Hoerner this year. “I got great views of Dansby’s plays. There were a bunch of hard-hit balls in the six hole that I thought I was going to have to come in and field, and before you know it, he’s flying in front of me and making a throw from his knees. So that was pretty impressive.
“There were a lot of times where me and [center fielder Mike] Tauchman or me and [Cody Bellinger] would just look at each other after a play that these two made, just a ‘little ‘Oh my God,’ acknowledgment between the two of us.”
Swanson was a finalist for the third time in his career. Swanson led all shortstops in defensive runs saved (18) and outs above average (20), according to FanGraphs.
Happ led MLB left fielders with 12 assists this year, a career high as an outfielder, to “back up,” as he put it, the Gold Glove he won in his breakout 2022 season.
“Last year, I ran balls down really well, and this year I threw the ball really well,” Happ said. “And sometimes you’re going to have those opportunities and not the others.”
