Nico Hoerner Avoids Undesirable Title After Home Run Against Cardinals

Chicago Cubs infielder Nico Hoerner's home run Tuesday against the St. Louis Cardinals made Xavier Edwards of the Miami Marlins the last qualified hitter in MLB without a home run in 2025.

Chicago Cubs second baseman Nico Hoerner (2) hits against the Colorado Rockies at Wrigley Field. | Patrick Gorski-Imagn Images

Miami Marlins infielder Xavier Edwards is officially the last qualified hitter without a home run during the 2025 MLB season.

That undesirable title came down to two players, Edwards and Chicago Cubs infielder Nico Hoerner, entering Tuesday night. But in the sixth inning of the Cubs' game in St. Louis, Hoerner hit a two-run home run off Cardinals reliever Steven Matz's changeup that flew 364 feet.

Nico Hoerner hits his first homer of the year! pic.twitter.com/KRavwwJqFr

— Marquee Sports Network (@WatchMarquee) June 25, 2025

Of course, Edwards and Hoerner weren't the only players in MLB to not hit a home run. A total of 160 players entered Tuesday's games without one, but they didn't reach the amount of plate appearances – at least 3.1 plate appearances per scheduled league game – required to be considered a qualified hitter.

Edwards has a chance to join Hoerner as one of two qualified hitters with just one home run this season as the Marlins play the Giants on Tuesday at 8:45 p.m. CT. Four qualified hitters – Ke'Bryan Hayes, Keibert Ruiz and Joey Ortiz – have hit just two home runs. On the other end of the spectrum, Seattle Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh leads MLB with 32 home runs.

That's not to say Hoerner and Edwards are having bad seasons; it's quite the opposite. Hoerner ranks fourth among second basemen with 1.6 wins above replacement, per Fan Graphs. Entering Tuesday, he was slashing .288/.330/.354 with 31 RBIs and 14 stolen bases, while playing Gold Glove-caliber defense at second base.

Edwards' 0.6 wins above replacement rank 23rd among shortstops, but he's fourth in batting average (.286) and on-base percentage (.363) and sixth in stolen bases (14).

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