Anytime a player suffers a serious injury — especially pitchers — there are natural questions that crop up. Chief among them: Was this injury preventable?
Organizations ask this question internally all the time, trying to use the information to avoid injuries in the future.
In the case of Cade Horton, the Cubs don’t know what they could have done differently.
“When I look back, I don’t have any thoughts or regrets about how we handled him because we were so conservative,” Jed Hoyer said Friday morning at Wrigley Field. “Obviously, he broke down. I just think that is the nature of pitching in 2026. It’s a hard part. You have to build up a lot of depth. We just have to have a next-guy-up mentality.”
Horton will have surgery to repair the ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) in his right elbow and miss the rest of the season. The exact date of the surgery was not revealed, but Horton will see Dr. Keith Meister, who is well-known for treating elbow injuries.
Horton has already had Tommy John surgery, but it is not yet known if he will be undergoing a second TJ procedure. He will get at least an internal brace, and they will examine the extent of the injury during surgery to determine if he needs a full repair.
That’s pretty significant in terms of recovery. If it’s an internal brace — which is what Justin Steele underwent a year ago — the recovery time is roughly 12 months. If it’s a full Tommy John, Horton would be sidelined for about 15 months.
It was a devastating blow to Horton and the Cubs, but it is not an injury brought on by overuse or misuse. The Cubs have been extremely cautious with Horton ever since they made him the 7th overall pick in the 2022 MLB Draft.
“When I look back on our progression with him, we didn’t pitch him the year we drafted him in ’22,” Hoyer said. “In ’23, we could not have been more conservative with how we threw him. Obviously, he spent a lot of time on the IL in ’24. Then last year, we used him, but certainly we were really careful with his pitch counts. We didn’t push him. [Then] he had the rib injury late in the season.
“You hope that [the first Tommy John] surgery, it’ll last longer. Obviously, in this case, he broke down again. The hope is that he’ll have the repair and get back to where he was. But you have to play. You have to pitch. Guys are throwing 96, 97 [mph] with great stuff. You have to let him go pitch.”
Horton set a new career high in innings pitched last season with 147 between the majors and Triple-A. He had previously thrown only 88.1 innings in 21 starts across three minor-league levels in 2023 — his first professional season.
He made just 9 appearances in 2024 before a lat injury cost him the rest of the year.
The Cubs found ways to give Horton extra rest last year and limited his pitch count to about 75 during the last couple months of the season.
This year, the hope was he would be able to handle a larger workload and continue his progression toward becoming a bona fide ace.
Instead, he’ll be back to square one and will be out until at least May of next year.
“I really do feel for him a lot,” Hoyer said. “… I know how hard he had worked to get to this point. He looked fantastic and these things happen. It’s part of a baseball season. I feel terrible for him but he’ll come back strong and good.
“I’m sure that’s of little solace to him right now given the way he was throwing and the condition he was in. I’m sure he’s frustrated but hell be back and excellent.”
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